Shadow Walker
by threelade
Summary: As time grows short for the magical community the search is intensified for the Boy Who Lived. Can they find him and more importantly will he help them? AU Controling Dumbledore. For those who review, thanks
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Harry Potter and company. I only wishI did so I could quit my job and laze about the house all day.

**Shadow Walker by threelade**

**Chapter 1. Digging in the Swamp.**

Father grabbed hold of Ice's arm and swung him around the hall. "Stop right there" he said. "You know you can't leave the campus unless four kids or an adult go with you."

"But dad, I was just going out to help collect the herbs for potions. I wasn't going far. And besides Smoke, Shadow Walker and Fire will be with me. Please can I go?" Ice begged.

"You're not even trained and you give me more troubles than all the others combined. No you cannot go out of the compound. Go find Blaze and have him help you with some physical training. It will keep you out of trouble."

Smoke, Shadow Walker and Fire ran down the stairs and as the three youths were passing the two, Shadow Walker grabbed Father and gave him a quick hug, "Keep Ice busy for us will you?"

Father laughed as he hugged Shadow, "You three keep safe and don't stay out all night." He turned to Ice and with a quick flick of his hand indicated that the youth should go back upstairs. "Move Ice."

With a scowl that would have done anyone proud Ice stomped back up the stairs. Sometimes life wasn't fair, why did he have to be the baby of the family and he wasn't even the youngest. That really sucked.

The three kids were deep in the swamp digging up root that the potions master had requested the day before as the day stretched toward evening. Shadow looked around and called a halt to the days harvesting operation. "Its getting late lets head home guys."

"Come on Shadow, we didn't get any of the Airoflax yet. You know that Martin is gonna want some of that." Fire whined.

"I'll come back tomorrow morning and get some but we have to go home, we promised Father." Shadow explained.

Sloshing through the mud the three made there way back to the complex just as the sun began to set.

The next morning Shadow left the complex alone to gather the Airoflax. He took his short sword, a long dagger and his staff. Not that he expected any trouble, it was just training. After setting his wards he opened his sack and began cutting the fluffy heads off the Airoflax plants and stuffing them into his sack. After about two hours he had harvested all of the plants this side of the swamp and was debating weather to move to a new location or just go home. Home he decided, the plant heads caused an itch when exposed to skin and you could not wear gloves when harvesting it. He needed a shower.

About half way back to the complex he started to feel like he was being watched. Casting out feelers trying to find whoever or whatever was watching him proved unsuccessful. Still the feeling of being watched would not leave him alone. It was a relief when he passed the wards of the complex and left the feeling behind.

After Shadow got back to the school he looked up Father to tell him about the feeling of being watched. "So what do you think it was dad?"

"You couldn't pinpoint anything?" Father asked. "That is strange. Look Shadow, I don't know what it could have been but please don't leave the compound till we find out. Ok?"

"I wanted to take my hawk out later today for some flying but I guess I can stay here. I'll work with Ice on his elementals later today instead." Shadow said.

Father laughed, "He could use the help and you're a better teacher than most. Just don't let him flood the great hall again ok?"

With a quick grin Shadow agreed.

Shadow spent the evening working with Ice helping him with his control and promising to work with him again in the morning after breakfast. Other than a few quick temper tantrums on the part of Ice it was a productive evening and Shadow went to bed well satisfied with how his day had gone.

_(Hogwarts.)_

"Welcome students to another adventures year of learning." Dumbledore went through the usual beginning of school speeches before dismissing the students from the feast.

After the feast the headmaster asked several of the teachers to accompany him up to his office for a brief meeting. Snape was the first to ask the question…"Anything yet?"

"No, another dead end. I know he can't be dead but wherever he is he is very well hidden." Albus said.

"Humm" Professor Black said, "How many dead ends does this make this year Albus? 4 or 5 I think. When are you going to give up the search?"

Albus reached over and patted Sirius on his shoulder and explained, "I know he is not dead. Look, I told you 5 about the prophecy and you know what that means. Riddle and Harry can only kill each other. No one else ever. If Tom or his followers had managed to find and killed him don't you think we would all know by now?" He shook his head, "No, he's not dead, he's just very well hidden and it's our job to find him and bring him here. This is where his parents wanted him. This is where he belongs."

Professor Minerva McGonagall looked sadly at the head master. "Albus, this may be where James and Lilly wanted him and I know you don't want to admit that he might be dead but we have been looking for him since he was three. If he was alive we should have found some trace of him in 11 years of searching but we haven't. The only thing we know for sure is the Dursleys sold him to someone dressed in black when he was three for 5000 pounds. Nothing else." She sighed and said, "Even if we did find him after all this time he won't know who we are and may not even know who he is himself. I only hope your right and he is alive and wherever he is I wish him happiness."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 Lessons and Riddles**

Ice was trying, really he was but the stupid staff would not corporate with him. The others made it look so simple. He really wished he had been taken younger. Starting over with a staff was hard after working with a wand for a year. Sometimes he missed Hogwarts although he would never tell the other kids that. One thing he didn't miss was the abuse his father would heap on him or the stupid things he would preach about pure blood supremacy. Anyone who saw the children here would know that was a lot of bull. Just look at Silver and Shadow Walker…both muggles and both very powerful. Father said they were two of the most powerful young manges he had ever trained and that was saying something especially when you considered how powerful father was himself. Silver was only 15 and had mastered fire and water elements and Shadow was only 14, the same age as Ice and already made his own staff.

Shadow came into the room and started working with Ice on mastering water elementals. "You tense up when you call them is your main problem Ice. Learn to relax a little and you'll do better."

"Easy for you to say," Ice snarled, "They all come easy for you."

Shadow flashed one of his rare grins. "Did you think it was always that way for me? The first 5 years here were pure hell for me. You have one advantage that I didn't have. You already know you can do magic."

"It would be a lot easier for me if I had my own staff." Ice whined.

"You don't have the skill to make a staff yet Ice. Give yourself some time. After all, it took me 11 years to learn enough to make my staff." Shadow reached into Ice's mind and showed him how to relax then told him to try again.

Ice relaxed slightly then called for the element again and was rewarded with a column of water about 10 feet high. "I did it." he shouted.

"Keep control Ice, father doesn't want you to flood out the hall again. Now directed it to move around the room." The column of water slowly began drifting around the room. "Good, Good, keep it steady Ice" Shadow watched the column till it reached its starting point. "Now release it." The column of water vanished and Shadow gave a satisfied nod. "Well done. Very well done Ice, now thank the element for responding to your call then go tell father how well you did then get some rest

Ice slumped with exhaustion after thanking the element for responding. "Working with them doesn't make you as tired as it does me. Why not?"

I've been working with them a lot longer than you have and I still get tired if I work with them to long, well, except with the shadow elements. Those don't tire me out at all but Father already explained to you that the element we are most connected with will be the easiest one to work with and for me that's shadow and light." Shadow explained. "That's how I got my name after all. Once you get good it will be the same for you with water. That's your primary element."

Later on that evening at dinner Shadow was bragging to anyone else who would listen about how well Ice had done controlling the water elemental. "Give him a few more weeks and he will be well on his way to mastering it then he can start on his next. Father says he'll be able to master water, air and fire when he's done."

"When does he start working on his first form? What did you say it was Father?" asked Blaze.

Father explained to Blaze that he wasn't sure what forms Ice would have but he was fairly sure his water form would be a small water dragon called a Qurillen. "We won't know for sure till he's a bit further along in his training though."

After that talk centered on the forms each of them had for their elementals and what was needed to bring them out and control the changes. It was after all an important part of their training because without their magical forms they could not make their staffs. The three children who had mastered their magical forms and had made their staffs were the center of the conversation, answering questions from the others about finding forms, making staffs, what part of their magical forms were used in their staffs, how long it took to make one and how to find the other elements necessary to make the staff.

Ice asked Shadow how he knew what wood to use in his staff and how he found it. "You don't know for sure till you do find it. Mine sang to me when I was outside flying one day. The gems I made and the caps just felt right." Shadow shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know how to explain it Ice. You just know when you know, when its right." Shadow explained.

Fire nodded her head, "He's right, the wood sings to you when the time is right to make your staff. My wood came from the willow down by the lake and till it was time to make my staff I never felt anything from that tree although we go swimming there all the time."

"Did you make your own gems too?" Ice questioned Fire.

"No, I don't have that skill. Earth isn't one of my elements. Tide made them for me."

"Tide? She's not fully trained yet. How could she make your gems for you?" Ice asked.

"I could make them because I was practicing making gems when she needed them. I may not be finished with my training but I can compress minerals and heat them with fire. Rubies are easy at least for me." Tide told Ice.

"We all work together here to help each other. If you can't make a gem that you need or gather an ingredient that you need for your staff then someone will help you. That's what family does. They help each other Ice." Silver said. "When its time for me to make my staff I'll need help with my gems because I don't have fire as one of my elements at all."

Ice knew that a part of the magical creatures they would master was used in the staffs to personalize them and to make them unusable by any other mange. He also knew that some sort of potion was made to soak the staff in before it was finished but he didn't know how to make the potion or what was even in it although he was very good at potions. One of Martins best. All any of them knew who hadn't made a staff yet was that the potion was a blood potion and it personalized the staff even more. He looked at the three who had made their staffs and sighed. He would master his elements and make his own staff eventually but sometimes it was hard not to be jealous.

When dinner was over the children took off to study before it was time for bed.

Shadow having mastered all of his forms at the tender age of thirteen and completing his staff just a month after his fourteenth birthday was the undeclared leader of the children. The most powerful and the most intelligent of the seven children he was the master of Shadow and Light, Fire, Water, Earth and Air elementals as well as being the best student. His work in potions and transfiguration surpassed his teachers and his skill with sword and knife were second to none. In unarmed combat the only one who stood a chance against him was Father and that was mostly a matter of gaining experience. In his other classes he was either at the top or a close second. By everyone's standards except Shadow's he was special. That was of course a large part of his appeal, the fact that he did not see anything special about himself. He was just one of Fathers children. To the other children Shadow was the leader, the one to live up to. To the rest of the world he was the missing hero. Presumed dead for many years by all except a select few

_(Riddle manor)_

One of those few was a strange little figure, weak and pain filled. Cared for by his followers and a large reptile this man like thing hated, hated beyond what could be called normal. He hated his half life, he hated muggles, he hated Dumbledore, he hated half bloods, he hated the light and he mostly hated the babe that had reduced him to this state but soon he would be avenged. Soon he would take his rightful place once again and when he did woe to those who had wronged him. Starting with the Potter child and ending with those who refused to acknowledge his rightful supremacy he would be avenged.

The potion was almost finished and tonight he would build a new body. A strong body. One capable of gaining the revenge he lived for and soon after that he would perform the ritual that would allow him to move into that body. When that happened he would begin again to claim his own.

Voldermort would return and when he did he would find and kill that child who had defied him so long ago by not dying when he was supposed to. Whatever the whole prophecy said didn't really matter, what mattered was that there was a prophecy concerning himself and the brat. A prophecy that pointed to danger for himself. Something that Voldermort could not allow, ever.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 I Always Feel Like Someone's Watching Me.**

The whole school was restricted to the compound for the next five days except Father and Tracy (the charms and language professor) and those two were out looking for whatever it was that had been watching Shadow earlier that week. At the end of the third day the only thing they could find was some buried trash and a site that had held a campfire several miles away from the compound. There was a deer trail that went past the swamp where Shadow had been collecting Airoflax that lead to a national park so the two concluded that some hikers had followed it and ended up at the wrong place and at the right time. They spent the next two days strengthing the wards around the compound and renewed the notice me not charms.

After they were finished the children were allowed to resume their normal activities which included gathering potion ingredients in the swamp and around the complex, for those that had winged pets and could transform into a winged animal flying around the forest with their familiars, hiking and swimming in the nearby lake.

One of the favorite activities of the children was a modified game of hide and seek. The children were split into teams, seekers and the hidden. The seekers had to find the hidden and once found had the chore of subduing them. Once subdued the hidden became a seeker and the seeker became a hidden. About the only thing disallowed was spells that could harm either seeker or hidden and the physical combat was limited to weaponless fighting. Still, sometimes broken bones happened and several times students had to be carried back to the compound for healing beyond the students skills. This was the activity all seven students were engaged in when both Smoke and Shadow began to feel like they were being watched…

The two broke from each other instantly on their guard. Looking around neither saw anyone. Casting out feelers, neither found anyone.

"What do you think it is?" Smoke asked

"Don't know but I felt it before. That's why we were restricted to the compound." Shadow answered. "Father and Tracy found traces of muggle activity around the compound. It could be the same again. We aren't that far from the park."

Smoke looked around uneasily then asked, "If it were muggles we would be able to find them wouldn't we?"

Shadow shook his head no. "My feelers are geared to magical signatures and you're learning the same ones I am so I don't think so. Don't worry Smoke, if its muggle then they can't harm us."

Smoke started to giggle, "If it is muggle we probably scared the hell out of them. I don't think boys and girls fight like this in their world." She looked around again then asked Shadow. "Should we call them and let them know we aren't killing each other?"

"No, lets just head in closer to the compound. We're pretty far off." Shadow answered.

Smoke agreed and the two walked back toward the compound arguing all the way about who was now seeker and who was now hidden.

Later that evening after the kids all returned to the compound Shadow and Smoke told Father about the feeling of being watched. They also told him that they were very close to the park when it happened so Father dismissed the incident as not important. It wasn't the first time his children had been spotted by muggles who were visiting the park and he doubted it would be the last. He did however warn the kids to always be careful about using magic where muggles could spot them and he did warn them to not go so close to the park in the future.

The next two days passed without incident but the day after Ice, Fire, Tide and Silver were out gathering insect casings for potions when the four felt like they were being watched. This time when they looked around trying to spot the watcher they saw two young women watching them. Both had on back packs and carried walking staffs.

Silver went up to them and introduced himself. "Hi, are you two lost? You're not in the park anymore you know."

One of the girls smiled and said. "I know. We crossed the fence about four miles back but it's so nice out today and the hike was so much fun that we didn't care. Are we trespassing or something?"

"No, not at all. This forest is national although it's not a part of the park. The rangers don't like hikers to go this far because if you get lost it could take forever to find you if your found at all." Silver answered.

"Well then, if its not part of the park are you lost?" one of the girls asked with a smile.

Silver laughed and waved his hand toward the other students. "My sisters and brother and I live around here. We are always wandering around in this forest so it would take some real work for the three of us to get lose. Look, you two enjoy your hike and please head back toward the park soon. If you don't you'll be out here after dark then you might truly get lost." With that said Silver loped back over to Ice and Fire and the three of them headed back toward the complex.

That evening at dinner Fire and Ice regaled the others with the much exaggerated story of Silvers encounter with the two muggle women.

"Of course being Silver he had to flirt with them or else we would have just left." Fire said.

"Come off it Fire, I was not flirting. I was just trying to find out if they were the ones that Smoke and Shadow sensed the other day. Besides, they were cute." Silver explained.

"Cute, that explains it all doesn't it." Father teased

After dinner the children dispersed to their privet rooms to study or read before bed.

_(Hogwarts)_

"Are you sure Severus?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, unfortunately I'm sure. The ritual was held last night. He's back." Snape replied.

"Well, this makes it even more imperative that we find Harry. I had hoped we would have more time but time has run out for us." Albus said. "This is now our first priority, the boy has to be found and trained. Is Voldermort looking for him Severus?"

"Looking to kill him is more like. I don't know if he has any leads or not but yes, he is looking. He has all of his followers out looking too. The search has been split into tasks, I'm to look for him amongst the home schooled because I am a potions master and his age puts him at around O.W.L.'s at the end of next year and I visit so many of the home schooled in the summer between fourth and fifth year to asses their progress and make recommendations in their training so they can pass their test." Severus brought his hands up and rubbed his eyes tiredly, "Do we have any leads at all Albus?"

"I have people out looking, not in the usual places of course but there are some interesting rumors about a small school in America. The students aren't seen often but the headmaster is an old acquaintance of mine. Some of you may remember Chandos? There is also a small community of magical people located Africa. They are very much the loners although I have heard rumors that they have three children not born to them that they teach and I also have someone looking in the mountains of Peru for a small group that run a school of magic. I understand that they take in orphans with large amounts of talent. This school is reported to be run by Lexan. Some of you may have heard of her."

Remus shook his head as soon as Albus mentioned Chandos. "Surly not him Albus. After Voldermort was defeated by Harry he ran off. He has always disagreed with the order and James always fought with him about everything. I don't think he would bother to take in Harry under any circumstances."

Snape snarled, "You don't like Chandos because he always disagreed with Potter and Black. He's powerful enough though. Albus, are you going to let him know that Voldermort is back? Perhaps we can get him to rejoin the order. We need someone of his magical strength."

"You've always gotten along with him better than most Severus. Perhaps you can go and visit him and sound him out about rejoining the order. I can take over your classes on Friday and Monday. That would give you four days. Long enough to try to convince him to return but not so long as to annoy him." Albus then turned to Serius and Remus, "If Severus is successful I expect you two to behave yourselves and maintain a professional attitude towards Chandos. Understood?"

Both men looked down before agreeing with Albus. Severus just smirked at seeing his two rivals shamed by his mentor.

"I agree to go under one condition Albus…This time you will not teach my classes to reduce fruit sugars down into sweets. You stick with the curriculum I set. I still have nightmares about how hyped up my students were when I got back. Sugar rushes and potions DO NOT MIX." Severus glared around the room as the snickers mounted.

Albus looked a little sheepish as he agreed. "This order meeting is dismissed. We will meet again when Severus gets back from America. Oh, stop laughing Bill and Minerva, I thought it was a good idea at the time."

As the group was breaking up Bill and Serius cornered Minerva. "Now what happened with the kids and the sugar high……."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 We have company.**

At breakfast the next morning in-between a lecture from Martin about what he expected from his potion class that day and the serving of the pancakes an owl started tapping on the window with his beak. Tracy looked to Father for permission and at his nod opened the window to admit the strange owl. It flew directly to Father and held out its leg so Father could remove the letter attached to it. After casting a few spells at it to insure it was safe to read Father opened and read the letter. After he was finished he turned to Martin and told him "We have company coming. An old acquaintance of mine. According to this letter he'll be here for four days. He's a potion master and a teacher at Hogwarts."

Ice went paler than normal at these words. "Snape" He whispered. "Father, is he coming for me?"

"No child, he doesn't even know you're here and even if he did there's nothing he can do about it. I have guardianship over you because your natural father was abusive. He can't harm you, I promise."

"If you want I can supply you with a polyjuice potion to hide your features for the duration of his visit" Martin offered.

"Do you want that Ice? Will it make you feel safer?" Father asked with concern and love evident in his voice.

Tide walked up behind the upset boy and started to rub his shoulders, "We won't let him hurt you or take you back. You're our brother and family now."

Ice looked at Shadow and asked him what he thought, "Should I take the potion?"

"Only if it makes you feel safer, I don't think I would cause it taste like…" With a quick grin at Father, "Something a dog may have accidentally dropped on the floor before it was house broken." Shadow paused for a moment then added, "You know that we'll all keep you safe from anything Ice."

"When is your company coming Chandos?" His wife asked. "I have the kids for the morning today and I don't want my lessons disrupted with visitors."

Father chuckled, "Who would be brave enough to disrupt one of your classes my love. Not Snape. He has to remember you from when you were teaching him Legilimency, and Occlumency at the time he was recruited by the Order of the Phoenix." If anything Fathers grin got even wider. "As I recall he left one of your lessons so traumatized that he stayed in his shower for almost 8 hours just scrubbing himself. If I remember rightly you had to heal all of the abrasions on him from all the scrubbing."

"He deserved it. He knew you and I were engaged and he still thought of me _that way_. Yuck." Mother looked at the children with a gleam in her eye. "If you lot don't work hard this morning at your healing lessons I may just show you what I showed our soon to be guest."

All seven children gulped and quickly answered "Yes Mother" then bent to their plates to finish eating.

"The answer to your question is about 11:00 today. Ice, have you decided if you want the polyjuice? You have about four hours to decide you know although if you do choose to use the potion I would take it about 10:30 just in case he comes early." Father looked at his watch then said, "Finish eating kids, LeAnn hates to start lessons late and you DON"T want her mad at you."

The kids finished eating and followed Mother to begin today's lessons in the Healing Arts

After the kids left to begin their lessons for the day Martin asked Chandos what he wanted the rest of them to do before their guest arrived.

"I don't think there's anything really for anyone to do although I am sorely tempted to tell him he's not welcome. I don't like Ice upset like that." Father replied. "The house elves will get a room ready for him."

"I can at least keep him out of your hair somewhat. We can talk shop. Did he even say why he was coming?" Martin asked.

"He said he had some important information to discuss with me. I suspect its something to do with Ol' Moldy Shorts. I never did think he was gone for good but if he thinks I'm rejoining the order he's got another thing coming. The last time Albus and his disregard for the safety of his followers almost got my wife and daughter killed. He's got the rest of the order as well as the Potter brat. He doesn't need my family on his front line anymore." Chandos looked at the other teachers. "All of you, our children, we're family now and I won't allow any of you to be put in danger trying to defeat a monster that that old busy body helped create with his neglect."

Jonauspatted Chandos on the shoulder, "Don't worry so much my friend, we're all safe now and no one will ever hurt our children again. I will never forget what we all owe you but especially what I owe you. You gave my family a home after the death eaters killed my wife. I stand beside you no matter what, we all do."

The others agreed with Jonaus before they broke up to begin their day.

At 11:00 prompt the fireplace in the hall flared to life with green flames and spat out Severus Snape. Chandos reached out to steady him then pulled him into a quick hug.

"It's good to see you again Severus, still terrorizing the children at Hogwarts?" Chandos asked.

"And what else would I be doing?" Severus asked dryly. "How have you been my friend? I haven't heard from you since you took off after the first defeat of The Dark Lord."

Chandos sighed, "The first defeat…That means he's back. When did it happen?"

"He finished building a Gollum to inhabit about 6 days ago. Two days ago a blood ritual was preformed to transfer his sprit to the body. He used a newborn baby's blood, the hand of one of his followers and the bone dust of his father to power the ritual; the baby of course did not survive. Chandos, we need you back." Snape said.

"No, I won't go back. Do you think I've forgotten what Albus did to my wife and daughter? He almost got them killed." Chandos said.

"He's not perfect but he's not a murderer either. Chandos, I know it's hard for you to understand but it wasn't Albus's fault. He just didn't understand how high up on the list of those to be killed you and your family were or else he would have never removed the protection from them. Please reconsider. We need you." Severus said.

"Severus, you're a guest in my home and as such you will be treated with respect but please respect my wishes also; this is not something I will talk about." Chandos smiled, "Come, I'll show you to your room. Lunch will be in about an hour and a half. Do you remember my younger brother Martin? His wife and daughter are here with us."

"Ah yes, I had heard you were a headmaster of a small school. It's hard to believe that you would settle down that way." Snape said.

Chandos laughed. "Not a headmaster, or at least not in the traditional sense. It's just my wife and my three children, Martin and his wife and their one child and two other very good friends and their children. I guess you could say we are just pooling our skills to homeschool our kids." Chandos face lost its smile for a moment. "Severus, one of the children here was rescued from an abusive family. He's still dealing with emotional wounds. I'm telling you this because you might recognize him. We offered to let him take pollyjuice for the duration of your visit but he declined. In a way I think he is testing all of us because we all told him we would protect him from you if you tried anything. Do us all a favor and don't. I have legal guardianship of him and his adoption is being planned."

Severus felt a momentary thrill, could it be this easy? Was the child perhaps Harry Potter? But wait, Potter had been sold at the age of three. Still, no one knew where he had ended up at. Chandos could have found him in an abusive situation and rescued him and Snape would recognize him or at least his scar. Almost anyone in the British magical community would have. "What's the child's name?" he asked.

"Oh no my friend. All of my children go by a pseudo name, they think it's cool. You'll see him at lunch with the rest of the kids. Just don't approach him if you do recognize him unless he wants you to." Chandos said. "Here's your room. I'll send a house elf to get you for lunch."

With that Chandos left Severus alone with his thoughts.

Severus changed into some black slacks and a white shirt after washing up. He used the rest of the time before lunch unpacking and exploring his room. It was very comfortable with a large bathroom attached. The view from the windows was of a picturesque garden and two greenhouses. There was a lake in the distance that fed into a swamp. The whole was surrounded by a thick forest. Two people, adults if he wasn't mistaken were working in the garden pulling weeds. As he watched the two working his mind began to drift going over the information Chandos had given him.

He knew that Albus had pulled the guards off Chandos family but he had not known that they were almost killed. That would explain why Chandos had left the order so abruptly without a word to anyone. Snape had always blamed the bad blood between the marauders and Chandos as the reason for his departure. Children, three…He knew about the girl. Almost a year older than the Potter brat. What was her name, Tina or Brina or something like that. Humm, wait, it was Trina. A cute little two year old with a head full of brown curls and deep blue eyes. She must be what; about 15 years old now. And Chandos had two more children now. Well, he would meet them all at lunch. I wonder who the abused boy is. It could be Potter. I hope it's Potter. I can't think of any other boy who vanished that I might recognize.

When lunch time came around Snape was escorted to the dining room by a house elf named Flossy who apparently had a major case of diarrhea of the mouth. He couldn't get her to shut up for anything. The whole trip it was master this, master that, the children this and that. Sheesh, would she never shut up? Most house elves were silent unless addressed with a question or asked to explain something to someone. Not Flossy. Severus was never so happy to see a dining table in his life. At least he would be away from the elf.

The only people present at the time were four adults. Chandos was one. He got to his feet and escorted Severus to a place beside himself and indicated that he should seat himself. "Lunch will be served as soon as the others arrive. Would you like a drink? For lunch we always serve several types of juice and for the adults wine if they wish. I'm sorry but nothing harder is allowed here in the compound."

"Wine is fine." Severus smiled as his glass filled itself. He lifted it and inhaled the smell of the wine. If he wasn't mistaken it was a very fine Merlot. He turned his gaze to Chandos and raised his eyebrow in surprise. "A Merlot I believe?"

Chandos was about to respond when a commotion was heard coming from the door opposite from the one that Severus had entered. Snape watched as Chandos wife and seven children came into the room. Three girls and four boys. Snape felt his jaw drop open in surprise. It couldn't be. He was dead. An accident from the summer after his first year. He knew he was dead, Snape had attended the funeral.

Snape turned to Chandos, face pale and whispered "Malfoy. How is this possible? He was killed in an accident several years ago. Is this the child you warned me about?"

"We'll talk about it later." Chandos said. "Just remember what I warned you about."

_(Riddle Manor)_

"Nothing, nothing and nothing. Is this how you gather information for me? I don't want your sorry excuses or petty reasons for failure. I want results. I want that boy." Vodermort was almost spitting in his rage.

"Master, it's only been two days, we will find him I swear to you" Knott said as he groveled at his masters' feet.

Voldermort lashed out with his foot and kicked Knott in the face. "You should have never lost site of him in the first place but instead of doing my work the time I was gone you were all working to cover your own asses." He glared at the other assembled death eaters. Who here was faithful to me. Who here sacrificed for me? Not one of you. My truly faithful are all in prison right now. Just remember, I do not forget nor do I forgive. Each of you will work hard to rebuild my trust and if you do not you will die. Find the boy and find him quickly."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 The Name Game**

To say that Snape was shocked with being confronted with Draco Molfay would be an understatement. To find out that he was alive and well and being taught elemental magic by Chandos and apparently under the personal protection of six adults and six children after having attended his funeral and comforting the grieving parents left him flabbergasted. One thing was sure, Lucius Malfoy had some serious explaining to do.

All through lunch Snape watched Draco out of the corner of his eye. He barely listened to the conversations going on around him and when spoken to was only semi-coherent with his responses. This was a mystery that needed to be solved. His attention was so firmly centered on Draco that he really couldn't say what the other children looked like and other than LeAnn he was not sure about the other adults either.

After lunch Snape cornered Chandos. "Explain how you came to have a dead child who is apparently alive and well sitting at your dining table."

"Come into my office and I'll give you the whole story. After all, I owe it to you after you agreed to allow LeAnn to dye your hair purple and wear a dress for dinner tonight. Besides, better you hear it from me than try to ferret out the information from another source." With that Chandos led a very shocked looking Snape into his office and shut the door.

"What the HELL are you talking about? Purple hair and a dress? Chandos, I can assure you that your idea of humor is twisted and sick. I would never wear a dress and as far as allowing someone to dye my hair…That person would face a very painful death."

Chandos went over and opened a file cabinet drawer and began searching for something as he drawled out slowly. "Oh but you did you know. You held a brilliant conversation with my wife. She asked you if you liked pink dresses and you said 'yes lovely' then she told you that it would look smashing on you if your hair were purple and you said 'I agree' then she said its settled then, I'll dye your hair purple this afternoon and lend you my pink dress for dinner and your response to this was….'Wonderful my dear'"

By the end of the explanation Chandos had withdrawn several files which he turned to hand to a horrified looking Snape.

"No, please tell me you're joking. I feel sick because if your not she'll make me do it just to humiliate me. LeAnn never liked me, you know she'll try to make me look the fool." Snape said as he sank down onto a chair, face white and hands shaking.

"Humm, perhaps a little bit of blackmail is in order here. If I get LeAnn to agree to not dye your hair and make you wear a dress then you agree that what you learn in this office goes no further. Deal?" Chandos asked brightly.

Snape scowled. "I wish I could make that promise but it depends on what I learn. I can promise that I'll keep it confidential unless I honestly believe the Order needs to know. Will that do?"

"I can't think of anything I would disclose here today that could be of any concern to the order so it will have to do for now. First thing you need to know is that LeAnn has an uncanny talent for feeling the pain of young elementals. That's how we found Ice. The constant pain that he felt from the abuse he was suffering tormented LeAnn till I found him and rescued him. Those documents you're holding prove the abuse which allowed us to get custody of the boy. The natural father signed him over without a second's hesitation when he found out I would press charges if he didn't. He could not stand the idea of his reputation being damaged." As Chandos explained how he had come to find and take custody of Draco his face became more and more bitter. "I hate ass-hole, fuckers like that. Pure blooded supremacist who cant see that the world isn't his to play with. Matter of fact, most of our children were found that way. Tide and her father were captured by death eaters when she was three. Her screams kept LeAnn up for almost a week. They wanted Jonaus to work with them to translate some books they found to try and bring back Moldy Shorts. I brought the two of them back here and Jonaus has been here since. He teaches the children Runes and Ancient Languages. About six years ago he adopted another one of the children LeAnn found. A runaway called Blaze. Go ahead and look through those files and then if you have any questions I'll try and answer them. Ok?"

Severus began looking through the files Chandos had given him. Broken bones, burns, welts and burses. It was all here. Dracos statement, Chandos statement, LeAnn's statement, the statements of various healers and law enforcement officials, statements from children's services and last but not least a statement from Lucius Malfoy confessing all and legally giving up parental rights to his son in order to avoid prosecution.

When Snape first started reading he looked curious, as time passed that look changed to anger and finally rage. "How could that son of a bitch do something like this to his own flesh and blood? How Chandos? I just don't understand how someone could be so evil to their own child."

"It's an all too common story Severus. I told you that most of our children were found by LeAnn the same way. I guess its fortunate that she only senses elementals or we would have thousands of children here although I cant help but feel a little guilty about the ones we can't help." Chandos explained.

Snape asked, "How many then? You mentioned Jonaus and his daughter, how many others did she find this way?"

"My daughter Fire, Martin and Asia's daughter Smoke. Two out of seven kids weren't abused although when we found Blaze he wasn't in an abusive situation but he was in an unsafe situation. He had run away from an abusive past. Shadow has been with us the longest with Silver a close second. Tracy our Charms and Modern Language teacher adopted him when he was 5. LeAnn and I adopted Shadow when he was 4." Chandos explained.

With a laugh Snape said. "Wait, it's going to take me all four days just to sort everyone out. Start over and put them all were they belong ok?"

"Chandos married to LeAnn called Mother and Father by all the children but mom and dad by three. Fire, Shadow and Ice. Martin married to Asia, parents to Smoke. Tracy, parent to Silver and last but not least we have Jonaus, father to Tide and Blaze. And thus we finish the name game." Chandos said in a sing song voice.

"And all one big happy family. Incredible that you can all make it work somehow." Snape laughed.

"So are you going to tell Dumbly about Ice or not?" Chandos asked.

After a moments thought Snape shook his head no. "I don't see how this information could be of any use to him so now you have to get me out of the dress before I get put into it and don't forget about the hair. Of course you do understand that my assignment is to try to convince you to return to the order so I'll bring up the subject three times a day. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon and once in the evening, that way when I make my report each night I can honestly say I'm trying to get you back."

_(Hogwarts)_

"We think we may have found him but we aren't sure. He matches the description and the age but as far as we can tell he doesn't have the scar. I'm just not 100 sure. So what do you want us to do? Continue watching him or bring him in?"

Albus looked tired for a moment before he sighed. "Bring him in. We can do a paternity spell on him and find out for sure. If your wrong we'll just memory charm the boy and send him home again but we have to check out all the leads. When can you get him here?"

"I don't know, these children tend to stick together although this boy does wander off more than the others. We'll just have to wait for our chance to grab him. I'll let you know."

"All right, keep me posted and thank you." With that Albus closed the floo conection.

He hated this whole thing, the searching, getting his hopes up then having them dashed over and over again but he would find him no matter what it took. It was for the greater good after all. He would have to get one of the order members to make a withdrawal from the vault. He was running short of funds again and his helpers would need to be paid, also he wasn't sure how they intended to get the boy here but whatever method that they used would have to be paid for. With another sigh he threw some floo powder into the fireplace and called Mad Eye. He was usually the best one for these missions because he somewhat intimidated the goblins and they tended to give him less trouble.

When Moody answered his floo Albus told him, "I need you to visit the Potter vault for me Moody. Take out about 10,000 this time. We have a lead that looks very promising and I need to pay our helpers overseas."

"Will that be enough to last for a few months? You know the trouble I go through to make these withdrawals and I don't want to do it more often than necessary. The last time Gobbles and I got into a shouting match in the lobby of the bank. I had to remind him that you had power of attorney for the account and were the magical guardian of the boy and thus had the authority to disburse funds from the account as you saw fit." Moody complained.

"It's enough. Don't forget we're coming up on October 31 in a little less than a month and I'll be getting his yearly stipend for his day to day care. That plus the 10,000 should hold us through till Christmas."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6. Disclosures.**

Severus had to admit to being a little amazed at how Chandos had mellowed over the years. He had found a peace that had always been denied him when he was working for the order years ago and he had apparently come into his own being the head of a family of three children and the head of his extended family of six other adults and four more children. And what children they were too. Elementals all of them although only LeAnn and Chandos were elementals as far as Severus knew of the adults. Each of the kids was smart and respectful although they could all turn mischievous at the drop of a hat. Each was willing to help the other with school work or house work or anything else that needed to be done. Each was a joy to be around unlike the children he had to teach. If his students were even half so willing as these were then he wouldn't be as bitter as he was. He was even getting along with Ice after the child had gotten over his fear of Snape returning him to his father. He was going to miss them all when he left for home tomorrow.

Dumbledore would not be happy with him either because he had not been successful in recruiting Chandos back into the order and although he had spent time with each of the children he could safely say that the elusive Potter was not one of them. Shadow might have been but Albus had assured the members of the order that the brat would always be recognizable from his scar so although this boy had the black, messy hair and green eyes he couldn't be The Boy Who Lived. No scar and besides, genetics would make him arrogant just like his father and Shadow was definitely not arrogant.

Still, although Severus had not achieved any of his objectives he couldn't count the trip as a waste of time. He had fun. He renewed old friendships and made new friends and he had garnered an invitation to visit again. For the first time in a long time he was looking forward to Christmas vacation.

After breakfast Shadow asked for and was granted permission to take his hawk out and do some flying. He promised to be home before lunch and to stay away from the park. After his promises were delivered he went outside with his red tailed hawk and changed into a beautiful golden Lammasu. The lion like grace of the animal left Snape breathless as he watched the two launch themselves into the air and wing out of sight.

"Wow, I've heard of them but never seen one. A Lammasu is it not? Snape asked Chandos. Before Chandos could answer Snape he was asked in rapid successions. "They have a natural magical immunity of some sort don't they? How did he develop a magical animagus form? Don't the feathers confer some sort of magical protection against evil?"

"Slow down my friend. Yes it's a Lammasu, yes they have some natural magical immunity and yes the feathers confer some magical protection but only if willingly given. And last but not least he has 5 magical forms and no, I'm not going to tell you what they all are. Ask him yourself." Chandos said.

Snapes jaw dropped. "F F Five magical forms? How is this possible?"

"Every wizard or witch has an animagus form. Some just aren't strong enough to access it but with an elemental for some reason they develop a magical form for each element they can master. They also have a normal animagus form which is nonmagical. Believe it or not that one's usually the hardest one for them to access." Chandos explained. "I myself have three magical forms plus my nonmagical one."

Snape snickered, "Three forms, then that means your son is stronger than you are magically doesn't it."

Chandos shook his head, "If you're trying to make me jealous don't bother. Every parent wants their children to be better than they are. I don't feel jealous of Shadow. I feel proud of him."

Snape's face took on a serious look, "You've done well with them all you know. You have a wonderful family here."

"It wasn't just my work you know? We all work together to keep our family strong. These children are a wonderful blessing to us. They remind us of the goodness in the world worth fighting for." Chandos said.

"If you feel that they are worth fighting for then why don't you fight anymore? Why turn your back on the one group that fights to keep darkness at bay? I know you share our values." Severus asked. He really was confused by Chandos refusal to return to the order. "I know that Albus hurt you in the past. He made a serious mistake with your family but it was a mistake. Will you hold that against him to the point of turning your back on the one force that can stop the evil of the Dark Lord?"

"How to explain…" Chandos sighed, "It's not so much the mistakes he made with my family, and it's his total disregard for human life and dignity. He puts on a good act but that's all it is…an act. He is willing to use you till you have nothing more to give and then when your used up its all 'For the Greater Good', His intentions were in the right place in the beginning but now I feel that he is as much a problem as Tom Riddle, perhaps even more so because how do you fight someone who is believed to be so good. Dumbledore lost his humanity long ago and I for one will not sacrifice my family to his great ego."

"I don't quite understand how you can believe that about Albus." Snape said.

"Think about this for a moment. He knew that Tom was abused in the orphanage he lived in and yet he allowed it to continue. He knew that Rubeus Hagrid was innocent of opening the Chambers of Secrets and yet he allowed him to take the fall for it. He knew your parents were abusive and yet he never interfered with them. He knows that Fudge is corrupt and he allows him to continue to take bribes from known Death Eaters. Here's something else he does. He takes 10 of the student fees paid for tuition and uses it to fund his war. He has allowed three families that I know of to die just so he could get his hands on their Gringotts accounts to fund his war. A war that should have never happened and would have never happened if he would have helped a young boy who was being abused about 50 years ago. When you get home look up some of the laws that were passed after he was elected Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot and look to the changes in the curriculum of Hogwarts. He's crippling the wizarding community by allowing laws to be passed that limit the freedoms of half bloods and by refusing to allow the children to develop their true potential. It wasn't until he became headmaster that children had to buy their wands from Ollivander's which are monitored I might add and what's this shit about them not being allowed to practice over the summer? He puts out that the kids need to have a break from study but the truth of the matter is that as their powers develop they need to constantly use them or they don't become as strong as they have the potential to become. It antropies away without constant use during their magical growth years, and for normal children those years are from 10 to 16 years old." Chandos looked bitter as he finished his rant and Snape looked dumbfounded.

"Surly you must be mistaken…Someone would have caught onto some of this before if you were correct." Snape could not believe what he had been told. "Where did you get this information Chandos. I need proof before I can credit it."

"If you question him just remember he is a master of the memory charms." Chandos rubbed his eyes tiredly, "I did a lot of research. Most of it wasn't easy but the sources are there if you dig hard enough or deep enough."

_(Riddle Manor)_

Voldermort looked around the manor. It was filthy but until he could build up his powerbase again it would have to do. Perhaps he would use some of his Death Eaters to clean. It would be a good lesson in humility for those worthless dolts who could not find even one young boy for him. Voldermort snickered. He would take a line from his potion master for a suitable _detention_ for their failure. Something to damage their pride without doing to much damage to their bodies. Yesss. With that last thought he conjured up several toothbrushes and a whip then he summoned about half his death eaters to a meeting.

After his followers apperated in and greeted him they knelt down in front of him awaiting instructions. "Who has found me information about the boy?" He waited in silence for an answer and when none was forthcoming he shouted; "Fools, all of you are fools. Do any of my followers have any information of Dumbledores plans? What of the Order of the Phoenix? Has it been recalled?" Still no answers. "Lucius my pet, I believe that you can all use a little bit of incentive to do your jobs so here is what you will all do. Strip down to your undergarments then all except my pet here will take up a toothbrush and begin cleaning. If Lucius does not think you are giving me your best effort then he will use the whip on you. After you are done cleaning to Lucius' satisfaction I will inspect this room and if it is not done to my satisfaction then the rest of you will use the whip on Lucius. This is the last time I will show you mercy. The next time I call you I had better have results or I will kill one of you."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 Going to the Movies.**

Flying was one of the most relaxing things he could do. When he was airborne he felt free from all of the daily strife of belonging to a large family with siblings that always expected him to have all the answers to the hard questions. Shadow stayed out with his hawk for the whole morning getting back just in time for lunch. He already knew that the afternoon would be spent in town doing some errand or another. Sunday afternoons were put aside by the family to go shopping for food, clothes or anything else they needed. After the shopping was finished the extended family would go out for dinner then do something together like go to a movie or ice skating or if anything interesting was going on around town they might attend that instead. Usually this early in September there was a carnival someplace or sometimes they would go on a boat ride down the Colorado River for a few hours. Whatever they did it was to provide quality time with the adults and children together. Shadow personally liked it when it got colder because then they would switch the shopping around and go skiing during the afternoon. In October they had the Halloween festival and in November there was the ice festival. December was the best though. That's when they had the snow sculpturing contests and cross country skiing and of course Christmas. Oh well, whatever they did this evening he was sure he would enjoy it even if they had company along today. "I wonder if Mr. Snape likes movies or ice skating," he wondered aloud.

When it was announced that Mr. Snape would be visiting Ice had been so scared that he would try to take him back to his natural father. Shadow had been prepared to hate the man on site just for scaring his brother like that but Mr. Snape turned out to be kind of nice. A little snarky perhaps and he definitely had a twisted sense of humor but he was ok. He didn't even bitch too much when the kids had turned his hair purple. Of course they had to do that because somehow dad had talked mom out of making him wear a dress for dinner. Well, the purple had only lasted for a few hours anyway but Mr. Snape had howled about it and then promised to turn all the kids into potions ingredients then did some sort of spell that had turned all of their hair neon colors. It was great. He promised it would stay that way till he went home. Shadow planned on cornering the man before bedtime and learning the spell for future use.

After lunch the whole family went grocery shopping then decided on a movie for an after dinner activity. Course it was a toss up between a chick flick or a good horror or si-fi show but the boys outnumbered the girls so if they could only agree amongst themselves on what to go see they would not be stuck watching another sappy love story. After much debate it was decided to go see the newest si-fi show. It had great reviews so perhaps it wouldn't be too bad. It turned out that Snape had never been to a movie theater so for him it was a new experience. Watching him get bug eyed over the big screen, eating popcorn and drinking soda was even more fun than watching the movie. On the trip back to the compound he had to be assured over and over that there was no magic involved in the movie.

When the family got home the kids made their way to their bedrooms for bed and the adults went to the family room to have some quiet conversation.

"Explain to me again about this movie thing. I can scarcely believe those were not real people shown to us by some sort of a strange pensive. Do things like that truly exist and if so why don't we know about them and do they have these movies in Scotland?" Snape asked as he finished his popcorn.

LeAnn laughed, "Severus, its like muggle books except that people called actors play the parts in the book and they record it with things called video cameras. It's not real and yes, movie theaters exist in Scotland." She looked at Chandos and said. "You know we corrupted him. When he gets home he's gonna find the nearest theater and start going every weekend now."

Chandos agreed "But it's better than if we turned him into a couch potato. Severus, just be happy that we don't have a TV or else you would be totally corrupted."

"TV? What's that?" Snape asked.

"Nope, no way are we going to pollute your mind with TV. Give it up Severus" Tracy added. "Just be happy with the occasional movie and forget about TV."

The adults talked for about another hour before they broke up for the night and headed for bed.

In the morning after breakfast the children went with Asia for lessons in spell weaving. Snape and Martin went off to Martin's potions lab to work on a potion that Martin was trying to improve and the rest of the house went off to deal with various other activities.

As the two were working Snape took the opportunity to ask Martin some questions on the family.

"Chandos told me that LeAnn can hear elementals that are in pain. What exactly did he mean by that?" Snape asked.

"I donno how she does it. I think I wouldn't be far off it I said it was some sort of mind elemental or something. I just know that she has some sort of special connection to young untrained elementals. When they reach the age of about 16 or are trained she can't get into their minds anymore. The untrained kids hate it because she always knows when they get hurt. It's funny to watch her stop what she's doing to rush out to take care of a skinned knee or a splinter. They can't hide anything from her."

"She reads their minds? I didn't think that was possible. I know legilimens comes close but even that's not quite mind reading." Snape said.

"No, its not legilimens. Its something different because she can get into their…I guess you would say pain centers. She senses their pain. Emotional, social and physical. Even she doesn't know how she does it. She almost always has up her occlumency shields and that cuts out the noise I guess you would say but when the pain just keeps happening then she can't tune it out anymore and we end up with another kid. Ice just about turned her into a basket case I think because he wasn't being abused for most of his life and then suddenly his father went off the deep end and started beating the shit out of him. Chandos thinks it has something to do with old Moldy Shorts but we aren't sure. I guess you would know about that better than the rest of us. You use to spy for the Order didn't you?"

Snape nodded his head. "I still do. Ice has been here for what… About two years now? During his first year at Hogwarts a teacher was possessed by the Dark Lord. He tried to steal something that was being protected at the school. A young girl was severely injured by a Troll and almost died. We managed to stop the theft and that prevented the Dark Lord from gaining a body but it alerted his followers that he was still alive and trying to become active again. Lucius Malfoy has always been a bit unstable. I guess that pushed him over the edge."

The two became silent for a bit as they diced ingredients for the potion they were working on. After Martin added the ingredients and began stirring counter clockwise he asked in a hesitant manor. "Is he back then?" Snape closed his eyes and nodded his head. "He made a new body and at the beginning of last week he preformed a ritual that allowed his soul to move into it. He's back and after power again. That's the reason I came here. The Order needs help and Chandos is a very strong wizard. I was sent by Albus to try and recruit him again.

Martin shook his head, "Won't work you know? Chandos won't leave his family again. At least not for the Order. I don't blame him either. I remember the disregard that Albus showed for his wife and daughters safety. If Chandos wouldn't have gotten back early that last night they would have been killed by those Death Eaters to revenge what happened to their Lord."

"Chandos told me some things about Albus. Things I never knew. If they are true then I don't know how I can support him either Martin. According to Chandos Albus is as bad if not worse than the Dark Lord."

"Do you believe him?" Martin asked.

"I don't want to and I can't allow myself to without proof but I will look into these allegations you can be assured of that. If I find out that what he told me is the truth then the Order needs to be informed. I very much hope that Chandos was misinformed because what we don't need is a war on two fronts and that's exactly what it would be…an all out war on two fronts with the damned stuck in the middle."

Snape looked at his watch. "I'm leaving in about 30 minutes. This has been enjoyable but I need to get packed. Regardless of whatever I find out I will be seeing you all over the Christmas holidays."

"It has been a pleasure seeing you again Severus. I look forward to spending Christmas with you."

With that Snape left the room to pack for his return home. When he was finished packing he shrunk his satchel and put it in his pocket. He then left for the great hall fireplace floo powder in hand. When he got to the hall seven teens with neon hair were waiting to say goodbye. Shaking hands all around he promised once again to return for the Christmas holidays before throwing the floo powder into the fireplace. As the green flames roared to life Snape stepped into the fireplace saying Central transport. North America and with that he spun out of sight.

After Snape left the children and Chandos went to the courtyard to practice unarmed fighting. The children split up into pairs with Shadow and Chandos wandering amongst them correcting holds, kicks and punches. The activity was fast paced and by the end of the session everyone was exhausted including the two that had acted as instructors for the rest of the kids.

_(Hogwarts) _

Snape stepped from the fireplace in the headmaster's office which was empty except for Fawkes. Well, that was to be expected. Albus would be at dinner as it was about 7:00 p.m. here. Snape wrote a quick note and asked Fawkes to deliver it to the headmaster than sat down in a comfortable chair to await his arrival.

Fawkes flashed into the great hall and dropped the short note onto the headmasters plate. Albus opened it and read 'I have returned. Snape'

Albus excused himself from the rest of the staff and made his way up to his office. Seating himself behind his desk he picked up a candy dish and made the usual offer. "Lemon drop?" After Snape refused he said, "Now my dear boy, tell me how things went on your visit. Did you convince Chandos to return and more importantly did you find Harry Potter."

"No and no. Albus, Chandos made some disturbing accusations against you when I was there. I need to know if there is any truth to what he said."

The customary twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes dimmed a bit as he repeated the word "Accusations, what sort of accusations are we talking about?"

"He said you were responsible for laws being passed that restrict the rights of the mixed bloods, that you are crippling the magic world by engineering it so that the up and coming generation of wizards are weaker than the last." Snape looked down at his lap then looked up directly into the eyes of the headmaster. He opened his mouth to say something else and was hit with a powerful legilimens. Before he could take any type of action he felt the headmaster rife through his memories of the four days he had spent with Chandos family.

"How dare you invade my mind like that. You had no right." Snape sputtered.

"I am sorry but I needed to know. I am also sorry about this. Obliviate" Dumbledore waved his wand and conjured a pot of tea and two cups. As he poured tea for the two of them he asked Snape how his visit had gone and with a slightly shaking hand Snape took the offered cup and sipped gratefully. "I'm sorry Albus but Chandos does not want to leave his family at this time. I wish I had better news to report but unfortunately I don't.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 The Mud Bath.**

_(Gringotts)_

"I asked the two of you here because I believe we have a major problem." Raveark said. "Five days ago an acquaintance of mine came to me for some help in an ongoing investigating he is conducting. He asked me to look into any activities associated with the family accounts of Benjy Fenwick, James Potter, Gideon Prewett and Dorcas Meadowes. As you may know these four were killed the last time The Dark Lord was active. What you may not know is that none of these four left an heir to their family vaults except for James Potter and of course his heir is missing and I presume dead. All four of these people were members of the Order of the Phoenix when they died but the most curious thing about the four is that they all appointed Albus Dumbledore as the executive of their wills and all four named him their financial advisors, something I find most strange because he is not trained to advise people on how to invest their wealth. Mr. Dumbledore has been investing money from all four accounts in a company called Ol'Dentsa for years. This company has never shown a profit, it has never come out with a product and it has never put out a stock report. I suspect it is a front for something else although at this time I have no idea for what."

Amelia Bones narrowed her eyes as she looked at the goblin. "What exactly are you saying here? Are you accusing Albus Dumbledore of something illegal? "

"What I am saying is that something is going on and although I cannot say it is illegal it is definitely shady and unconventional. As to weather Mr. Dumbledore is responsible…The two of you know him much better than I do. Is he subject to foolishness? Does he act irresponsible? Does he lack basic math skills? Does he take advice from questionable sources?" Raveark asked.

Mrs. Bones looked pensive then shook her head. "I have never known him to be any of those things. The man is exceedingly clever. He strikes me as the type to have plots within plots. What exactly is it that you want us to do for you?" She glanced over at the younger red headed man.

Bill Weasley had not yet added anything to the conversation. He just sat there and listened to his boss and Mrs. Bones talk.

Raveark opened a file on his desk and removed a folder which he opened. Running his finger down a list he turned to Madam Bones and said. "My acquaintance would like you to find any information you can on the Werewolf control policy. A breakdown of the laws governing the policy and the dates each law was passed. He would also like you to get a list of the members of the counsel that worked on the policy. In addition he would like you to research the kill laws that are in place for dangerous sentient creatures."

"Most of this information is open to the public. Why doesn't he do his own research?" Amelia asked.

Raveark gave her a toothy grin." You have said it yourself. 'Most' something is going on as I said before. We believe that Mr. Dumbledore is either the victim of some nefarious plot or he is the perpetrator of the same plot. Will you help us find the truth Madam Bones?"

"Before I give you my answer I need to know what you want Mr. Weasley to do." She answered him.

"Ahh, his assignment is fairly easy and is keeping within his currant line of work." Bill raised his eyebrows at that. "We need you to check as many members of the Order that you can for jinxes, hexes, curses, wards and spells." Raveark explained.

Amelia nodded her head. "I understand that. We need to know if someone is controlling the order through magic and against the wishes of the members. If Bill agrees to help you then I will too."

Bill asked Raveark, "Do you think someone has infiltrated the order?"

"Now that is the question isn't it?" he answered.

Bill nodded his head. "I agree to help; we need to know what's going on here."

The three conspirators agreed to meet in two weeks to discuss what they had discovered. Raveark assured the two that when they next met the man who had started this investigation would attend the meeting and with that he wished them good afternoon and good luck as he showed them to the floo.

After the two had left the door behind the fireplace opened and a person, robed with a deep hood that hid his face from view stepped into the room. "Did you check them for auras? He asked.

"I did and they were both clean as you thought they would be. What I would like to know is how you knew they would be." Raveark said.

"The Weasley boy works here. It would be dangerous to spell him. To easy to get caught. It's much simpler to keep him out of important Order business then explain why a top curse breaker for Gringotts is spelled and as for Madam Bones…Although he would love to have her she is head of the Magical Law Enforcement Division. Another one who would be to chancy to spell. It's to our advantage that they are both moralistic and honest." The man explained.

"Well, your insights were correct. Do you want me to repower your misdirection shield? It's been used several times recently and you need it kept up to full strength especially with the company you tend to keep." Raveark said.

"Yes, please do. As you said, it would not do to have my misdirection shield weak, not when I stand between two devils." The man said.

_(The Compound)_

Shadow, Tracy, Silver and Fire entered the great hall just in time to be sprayed with a combination of mud, water, what was once a Dumb Cane plant and pottery shards. Shadow and Silver knew what had happened right away and started looking around for the guilty party or parties only to find Tide with one of her hands over her mouth trying hard not to laugh and the other hand picking pieces of the aforementioned mess out of her hair. Ice just stood there covered with the same mess clutching a staff and looking shocked.

"Umm, Ice? It's customary to stop watering the plants before the whole thing explodes, you know?" Silver chided gently. "Is everyone alright?"

"Only till Asia finds out that he exploded one of her favorite plants." Shadow muttered softly so that only Silver heard him.

Silver cast Shadow a quick grin before asking again if everyone was ok. Ice shook his head as if waking up from a nightmare only to find out that it had followed him from his sleep. "Holy shit. Asia's gonna kill me. Quick, help me clean this mess up before an adult finds out what happened here."

Tracy laughed "To late Ice. If you want to keep something like this a secret then you better not do it in front of an adult don't you think? You lot clean up the mess. Ice ask Shadow for a lesson in control before you try to water any more of Asia's plants. I'm gonna take a shower. If anyone's cut get your butt up to LeAnn. Trust me, you don't want her to find out one of you are hurt without you telling her." With these last words of wisdom Tracy left the hall to shower before dinner.

Shadow looked over the teens then ordered Ice and Tide to get to LeAnn. "Mom will take care of those cuts you two have. Don't worry, none of them are serious."

"She won't give us that cream she used on me when I first got here will she?" Ice asked.

"Not for little nicks and scratches she won't. She used it on you when you first got here cause you were covered with cuts. Some of them were real bad and she didn't want them to scar. It's worse when you have to drink it in potion form. It makes you sick to your stomach and run a fever. When I first got here I had to drink the potion form and was sick for about a week before it healed up all of my scars." Shadow said.

"Why did she make you drink it? Scars don't hurt. They just look ugly." Ice asked.

Fire shuddered, "You didn't see him Ice. As bad as your father was to you Shadows parents were worse. He had burn marks all over his face like someone had thrown hot oil at him. He also had the words Die Freak carved into his chest. His back was a mess of scars from being whipped and although he was potty trained he had a diaper rash from hell." Tears were running down Fires face as she spoke. She went over and almost climbed into Shadows arms as he patted her back in a comforting way. "I was only four at the time but I still remember that you didn't cry the whole time you were being healed. Oh Shadow, you were such a brave little baby." She sobbed.

"Shhh its ok, its ok. Please don't cry anymore. Mom fixed me up. Shhh, shhh you cried for me so I didn't have to. Please little sister, it's ok now. I'm here and no one will hurt me anymore." Shadow rocked his sister as he hugged her with one arm and rubbed her back in a comforting manor.

As Fire slowly cried herself out Ice quietly said to Silver, "I thought Fire was older. Why did he call her little sister?" Ice looked very subdued as he watched the two teens he had come to care for as a brother and sister.

"He's called her that since he got taller than she is. Told her the day he realized it that he always wanted another little sister. It use to get her all riled up but now it's sorta like a pet name." Silver explained.

"She cried for me too when I got here." Ice said.

"She cried for all of us when we got here." Silver said "Father says it's because she has an over emotional mother that passed on to much of her DNA to her." Silver looked around the hall, "Come on guys, lets get this mess cleaned up before Father gets here. I know mom will tell him after she gets out of the shower. After we're done the two of you better go see Mother or my mom will scalp us." He told Ice and Tide.

Shadow who had finally gotten Fire calmed down ducked the slap she aimed at the back of his head and laughed when he head his sister mutter, "I may be little but I'm older. You two go now. The rest of us can clean up the mess right Shadow?"

"Yes revered eldest sister, whatever you say eldest sister, we live to follow you in your wisdom gained from having lived to such an exalted and elevated age of 15 eldest sister." Shadow teased. "Shrimp" he whispered in her ear.

All five teens laughed at Shadows antics as Tide grabbed Ice's arm and rushed him out of the hall. "Let's go get healed before Mother comes…."

After the two teens ran off Shadow grabbed the staff that Ice had dropped and with a quick sweep of the staff had most of the mess gone. "Wish I could fix Asia's plant. We can buy her a new one when we go to town on Sunday or better yet have Ice and Tide buy her a new one." He said.

Silver reached over and grabbed the staff from Shadows hand and did his own wave clearing up the rest of the mess. "Sloppy work Shadow."

"I know but I never used that staff. It's got a great core for water elementals and that was never my primary one so we don't get along to well. Hey, I think I figured out the spell that Mr. Snape used on us last Friday. It can be adapted for clothes. I'm gonna try it out on dad tomorrow during our free day. If I'm sneaky enough it'll take him most of Saturday to figure out what I did. I think it'll be cool for him to run around in hot pink clothes all day and it will make him dead easy to find if we can talk him into playing Seeker and Hidden with us."

Silver laughed at the mental image that Shadow had created. "I think if you charm Fathers clothes hot pink he'll figure out real quick who the culprit was and your gonna be the ONLY hidden he'll try to find and he can still beat your butt at physical combat."

The two boys laughed and Fire asked, "Did you really figure out the spell Shadow cause if you did then you can charm all of our hair neon again for Sunday."

"Now that would be cool. We could do it every weekend till Mr. Snape comes back. Dad will think it something he did when he was here last. Dad will go ballistic on him…" Shadow said.

_(Riddle Manor)_

"Severus, I am glad to see you back. Was your hunt successful?" Voldermort asked.

"To the extent that I have eliminated several places where the brat is not thus narrowing down the areas left to search then yes it was successful. I was also able to convince Chandos Kane to not return to the Order to offer his assistance." Snape told his lord a little bit smugly.

"Excellent work Severus," Voldermort glared around at the rest of his followers "This is the type of dedication I demand from all of you. Severus goes beyond his assigned duties to rob Dumbledore of a loyal follower as he searches for the Potter child." His eyes settled on Malfoy. "What do you have to report my pet?"

"Master, I have been checking ministry records for any news of Potter" he said as he shifted uncomfortably.

"And have you found any news my pet or do you bring me empty words again."

I have found that he was not placed within a wizarding family here in Brittan Master." Malfoy hopped this would be good enough to satisfy his master. He also hoped desperately that his master would not use legilimency on him because truthfully what he had mostly done for the entire week was lie in bed on his belly trying to escape from the pain of the lash marks on his back and legs. He was desperately afraid that he would not live through another session with the whip and he dared not use magic to heal the lashes because if his master checked and they were not healing naturally then they would only be reapplied and worse than before.

Luscius had his head lowered and was trying desperately not to squirm from the pain of his robe rubbing against the scabs on his back when he felt his head lifted gently by his master's hand under his chin. "You assure me that he is not placed here in Brittan? Did you not think that perhaps they would use a glamour and a false name? Have you started to physically check any children of around the same age who were placed for glamours and false names? How difficult do you think it would be to age the child on paper a year, change him to blonde and rename him Sam." As Voldermort was speaking his hand was slowly tightening on Malfoys chin till he was actually causing the man some severe discomfort. "What you are telling me is that my pet has not done his job to my satisfaction… again." By this time Malfoy had tears running down his face from the pain and fear. Voldermort released him and told him, "I will be thinking on a suitable punishment for you since the last one was so ineffective. Does anyone else have any progress to report?"

No one said anything. No one raised their eyes to their master. "Avada- Kadavera" and Crabby fell over on his side dead. "Knott, take this worm's body back to his family. Thus is the price for failure. Pet strip."

After giving that command he conjured shackles suspended from the ceiling. They were spaced far enough apart and high enough that the one chained would have his arms spread apart and he would have to stand on his toes. Malfoy was crying openly now as he removed his robes. When he was naked Voldermort told Snape to make sure that his 'Pet' did not die from his punishment. He then ordered four others to administer punishment to his pet. With that he went and sat on his chair to watch the show. "Make sure he screams. It will reinforce this lesson."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 Benzodiazepine**

Shadow was out hiking. Officially he was looking for Iontrag berries for potions but in reality he was just enjoying the day. The crisp cold air blowing through the fall leaves made everything look cheerful and although it was autumn things seemed more alive and welcoming to him. He shifted his staff to his other hand as he spotted a cluster of berries. Good, if he came back with a good haul then he would be able to convince Father to let him go out again next weekend. After he picked the ones he had seen he looked around for any others in the same area moving some brush out of the way to look in the thicket where he had found the first berries. He wasn't trying to be quiet as he searched but he was by no means noisy. At least he was quiet enough to hear someone behind him.

Shadow stood up straight and shifted his staff into a battle stance as he spun around to see what was behind him. Two girls and from the looks of them they were the same ones his brothers and sisters had seen when they were gathering insect casings a few weeks ago. Both women had on backpacks and one of them had a long slender piece of wood that she was using for a walking staff.

The blond one held up her empty right hand in greeting and said "Hi, are you hiking too?"

Shadow nodded then said "This isn't the park. Are you lost or just following another animal trail again today?"

"Again today? Do we know you or something?" the other asked him.

Shadow allowed a small smile to grace his lips as he shook head no. "You met two of my brothers and sisters a few weeks ago. They described the two of you when the told the family about your hike."

"I remember, the brunette boy and the boy with the white hair. There were two girls with them too. That's your family?"

"Some of my family. So you never answered me, are you lost or following another animal trail today." Shadow asked.

The blond haired girl got a wide grin on her face as she took off her backpack and moved it around to her front. As she started to open it she said, "Neither. Actually today we came to get you." Before Shadow could really take in what she had said he saw the gun in her hand pointing at himself. He started to raise his staff to make a shield but before he could complete the movement he heard the crack of the gun being fired and almost instantly he felt a sharp pain in his throat followed by a wave of dizziness.

Not knowing how he got there he found himself on his hands and knees in the leaf mold a pair of hiking boots in front of his face. Shadow shook his head trying to clear it. Bad mistake. He was fairly sure he had stopped shaking his head but it didn't feel like it. What was that noise, it almost sounded like someone was talking. He would see who it was in a minute. In just, just a second…every thing faded to black and he knew no more.

_(Later the same day at the compound)_

"Did Shadow say anything to any of you about staying out past lunch" Father asked the group. Everyone answered in the negative. "I'm sure he said he would be back before lunch. Martin, Jonaus I'm going to go look for him. Will you two please help? Ladies, please stay here with the children. I'm sure he just got sidetracked and forgot about the time but I still feel uneasy about his absence." The three men got into their jackets and left the compound.

They split up after agreeing to shoot green sparks in the air if they found him and red sparks if they had any trouble. After about two hours of searching Jonaus found Shadows staff but no trace of Shadow. The area was slightly scuffed but not enough to indicate that Shadow had been attacked and yet Jonaus couldn't figure out any other reason that Shadow would abandon his staff. He took out his wand and shot red sparks in the air to bring the other two men to the site. As he waited for Chandos and Martin he continued to look around and found something curious. It was some sort of a spike attached to a thicker plastic barrow. The end of the spike had an opening in it. What on earth could this thing be?

As he was looking at the spike thing Chandos came running up. "Where is he? Is he ok?" Jonaus shook his head no. "I don't think so. I found his staff and this thing but not him."

He handed the spike thing to Chandos whose face paled. "It's a tranquilizer dart. They are shot out of a specialized gun. You found this here?"

Jonaus nodded. "That and his staff."

"Fuck, he could have been hit with that thing and crawled off into the brush. Martin should be here soon. Help me search for him. Don't stick yourself with thing and keep it safe. Martin needs to look at it. He'll be able to tell what it was loaded with after he analyzes the residue from it." Chandos said as he handed the dart back to Jonaus.

Jonaus put the dart in his pocket after he cast a bubble around it to keep it safe then helped Chandos look in the brush for the missing boy. The two of them searched for about 15 minuites before Martin showed up. "What you got?" Martin asked.

Jonaus showed Martin the dart as Chandos crawled out of the bushes. "Take it back to the complex and find out what it was loaded with. I think Shadow was hit by that thing. Don't tell the children yet but tell the women. They need to know, especially LeAnn. Ask her if she feels anything from Shadow too. I think he's to well trained for her to pick up on him but I don't know for sure. These are unusual circumstances we're dealing with."

Martin hugged Chandos. "We'll find him. I won't tell you to not worry but we will find him. I promise."

That said Martin apparated back to the complex.

The two men continued to search the surrounding brush for another hour before they too apparated back home without Shadow.

When they got home they went straight to Martins lab. "Anything yet Martin?" Chandos asked.

"Yes, its some type of benzodiazepine but I'm not sure which one yet. Whichever one it is the dilution is strong enough to keep someone of Shadows weight out for about 24 hours. Possibly even longer if he is sensitive to it." Martin said.

Jonaus looked confused, "English please."

"Benzodiazepine is a tranquilizer administered to muggles to treat certain medical conditions. If a strong enough dose is given it renders the muggle unconscious.

"Can you think of any reason someone would need something like that in the forest?" Chandos asked.

All Martin said was one word but that word had the power to send three men into a panic of fear for Shadow. "No."

"Then he's been kidnapped. I need to go see my wife first before I explain what's going on to the rest of the family. Jonaus, don't let any of the children out of the complex and have everyone meet me in the family room in 30 minutes." With that Chandos left the lab to find his wife. He was not looking forward to this conversation. Hell, he wasn't looking forward to the next one either.

_(Hogwarts later the same day)_

The old man sat in the chair studying the old photograph in his hand. It could be, they certainly looked enough alike to be brothers. About the only difference that he could see was the boy in the picture had brown hair and it was much shorter and very sloppy. He got up and set the photo down on the table beside the chair and walked over to the bed. Looking down at the boy he brushed the hair that had come loose out of his face and off his forehead. No scar but the resemblance was uncanny. So close that even if he wasn't the boy Dumbledore could use him. With that thought Dumbledore nodded his head. "Well Harry, welcome to Hogwarts." Taking his wand from his pocket the old man cast a spell on the boy that literally carved a jagged lightning bolt shaped cut on his forehead above his left eye. After wiping the blood away he cast a petrificus totalus on the sleeping boy and left the room.

Going to the infirmary he asked Poppy for a healing cream. "Something for a cut please."

Handing Albus a small jar of cream Poppy asked, "Did you hurt yourself Albus?"

"No, not at all. I just like to keep some of this around my office. You know that sometimes Severus comes back and needs it right away. I also have students come in sometimes that are bleeding from minor injuries." He shrugged his shoulders and chuckled, twinkling eyes full of mirth. "Thank you my dear." He took the jar of cream and left the room.

Returning to the small guest bedroom in his quarters he conjured a damp piece of flannel and wiped the blood off the boy's forehead again and applied a liberal amount of the cream to the cut. He watched as it healed leaving a scar that looked like it had been there for years. Casting a few more spells he had the blood cleaned up from the boy and the bed then he levitated the boy off the bed, cast a charm that removed the boys clothes leaving him in his briefs, lowered him back to the bed and covered him up with the thick comforter. With a Finite Incantatem he removed the petrificus totalus from the boy then warded the door so no one except himself could enter or leave the room. With one last wave of his wand the candles in the room were extinguished then he shut the door behind him.

According to his contacts in America the boy should stay asleep for about 20 to 30 hours from the drug he had been given. Well, let him sleep then. Albus began to make plans.


	10. Chapter 10

**

* * *

Chapter 10 Wards, Blocks and Spells **

_(Hogwarts)_

In the morning after checking on his charge and finding him curled on his side, peacefully asleep Albus took a shower and dressed for the day. Making his way to the great hall he sat on his chair at the staff table. Looking out over the children he chuckled over the stir he would be creating later that day. Turning to Severus he informed him, "I need you to brew a stemma -atis (1) potion. When can you have it done for me?"

Severus raised his eyebrows in surprise. Now this was interesting. "It takes about 5 hours to brew. I can get started on it after breakfast. Do you want it to be patrius -accedo-filius (2) or genetrix -tricis accedo-filius (3)?"

"Can you incorporate both parents in the potion?" Albus asked.

Severus nodded. "It will take another hour to brew though. Whose linage are you going to be checking with it?"

Albus smiled, "We can discuss that at some other time. Right now I have many things to do and as the saying goes, little time to do them in. Please bring the potion to my office when you finish it Severus."

That said both finished their breakfast and left the hall to start their day.

Albus made his way back to his private quarters and after checking on the boy to make sure he was still asleep he gathered a few books and began doing some research. On a piece of parchment he wrote down several wards, spells and magical blocks. By the time he was finished with today's work he wanted to be sure that there would be no way the boy could cause him any trouble. He would have him so tightly wrapped up that he would almost have to ask permission to even breathe.

When Albus was finished with his research he gathered up a few supplies he would need and went into the boy's room. Casting a quick tempus Albus saw that he had about an hour left before Severus would have the genealogy potion finished. Plenty of time for him to get started on some of the other things he had to get done before the boy woke up. Placing his supplies on the small bedside table Albus removed the covers from the boy then once again cast a petrificus totalus on the boy before arranging him so he was laying flat on his back. Gathering a small knife and goblet from the table he cut the palm of his hand and allowed the blood to gather in the cup. When he had enough for the ritual he was about to perform he repeated the process with the boy's palm then he healed both cuts. Taking a small glass rod he stirred the blood together then set the cup down. Lighting four candles he sent them to the four corners of the bed chanting the whole time in an unknown language. That done he began to draw symbols on the boy's body with the blood. When he was satisfied with the results he held both of his hands over the body of the boy, one over his heart and the other over his forehead. Chanting again energy began to build around the boy till it was almost visible. As Albus reached the crest of his chanting the energy seemed to almost SNAP and then sunk into the body of the boy who despite the petrificus totalus shuddered and moaned in his sleep. Albus pried open the boy's mouth and poured the rest of the blood in then cast a quick charm that caused the boy to swallow. The boy moaned again as Albus looked on dispassionately. When the boy began to tremble and sweat profusely Albus allowed a satisfied smile to grace his lips. Good, the first ward was cast.

Albus left the boy laying there and went to his office to await Snape and the potion.

When Snape made his way into the headmasters office about 15 minutes later Albus was sitting behind his desk with paperwork spread out. "Ah, Severus, tea? Lemon drop?"

"Neither thank you. Who's the potion for Albus?" Snape asked as he handed it over to the headmaster and sat down on a chair facing the desk.

"Severus, you must allow me my little secrets for now. All will be made clear when it is time." Albus' eyes twinkled as he smiled at his potion master. "Now, is there anything I need to know about this potion before using it?"

"The amount of information you gather will depend on the size of the parchment used. The right hand will spit into the mother's line and the left will split into the father's line. The parchment must be used within 20 minutes of ingesting the potion. Oh yes, make sure the cuts on the palms of the hands are deep enough so the cuts don't stop bleeding because if they do then the chart will stop recording the information." Severus explained.

"I understand," Albus said. "does the person this potion is used on have to be awake and aware of what's going on?"

Snape shook his head no. "That is not necessary." He looked around the office before he stood and said, "If that is all then I'll be going."

"Yes, thank you again Severus. That will be all." And with that Albus waved Snape out of the office.

Albus returned to his guest room and cast another tempus charm. Checking the time he cast a sleeping spell on the boy on the bed then levitated him into a sitting position (no sense taking chances of him waking up prematurely was there?). Grabbing the parchment from the small table he spread it out in front of the boy then magically fixed it in place. Forcing the boys head back and mouth open he poured the potion down his throat. Casting the same charm that had caused the boy to swallow the blood that he had fed him earlier he made the boy swallow the potion and then pulled his hands up and grabbing the knife he slashed open both palms before placing them palm down on the edge of the parchment. As the blood began to stain the parchment lines and words started to appear written in the boy's blood. A beautifully calligraphied family tree began to grow till it covered the whole parchment. When the parchment was filled Albus pulled the boy's hands from the parchment and healed the cuts on his hands. Albus waited a few moments for the blood to dry and then removed the parchment from in front of the boy. Moving to the chair he sat down and studied the family tree. 'Ah, just as I thought. It is the Potter boy.' Albus rolled the parchment up and tied it with a conjured ribbon. Back to work now.

Albus laid the family tree back on the table then laid the boy back down. He wanted to get his magic bound before he allowed the boy to wake up. Using a spell he delved deep into the body of the boy till he found his magical core. Now this was a surprise, bright white with emerald green, crimson and golden strands mixed in. "Harry, you will be a powerful one won't you" he said as he began to cast the wards that bound the boys magic leaving only a small amount free for use.

When finished Albus cleaned up the room and the boy then covered him back up with the comforter. He then canceled the sleeping charm and sat down to await the boy's awakening.

After about 45 minutes Albus' patience was rewarded as the boy moaned then hissed in pain as his eyes opened revealing eyes of emerald green clouded with pain. He tried to say something but only managed a dry croak. Albus conjured a glass of water and helped Shadow sit up and sip from the cup. "How are you feeling now my boy?"

"Head hurts. What happened?" Shadow raised his hand and rubbed the scar on his forehead with a wince. "My head feels like it was being pounded on."

"I imagine it does at that." Albus said with a chuckle.

Shadow blinked rapidly a few times trying to get the room to come into focus a little bit better as he forced the sleep haze from his mind. Everything felt like it was wrapped up in cotton wool and him memories were distorted and fragmented. "Who are you?" he asked the old man with the twinkling eyes.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. I am also your legal guardian both physical and magical. Before you ask Harry you are in my guest bedroom in my private suit here at the school." Albus explained.

Despite the pain it caused him Shadow shook his head. "No, my legal guardians are Chandos and LeAnn Kane. I was adopted by them when I was four…" He stopped talking for a moment and a puzzled look took over his face. "Harry? Did you just call me Harry?"

"Indeed I did for that is your name. Harry Potter." Albus smiled as Harry shook his head no.

"A mistake, this is some sort of a mistake. My name isn't Harry. It's Henry, Henry Kane but my family calls me Shadow. Just take me home and ask my father. He'll show you the adoption papers." Shadow told him. He wouldn't admit it but he was starting to feel a little bit panicked. This whole situation was just too weird.

"Harry, do you remember the names of your legal guardians before Mr. Kane kidnapped you? " Albus asked.

Shadow started to breathe faster in his growing panic. "No…wait, it was Worstlys or something like that…wait…Du-Dursley? I'm not sure. Look mister, they didn't want me. They just threw me away. Chandos said it was because I used magic. I know they weren't good parents. I remember that. Chandos didn't kidnap me. He saved me. If he had kidnapped me then I hardly think that he would have been allowed to adopt me don't you think? Please take me home. My family's got to be worried about me."

"You were kidnapped when you were a very small boy Harry. I don't expect you to remember any of this but I am telling you the truth. The Dursley's were your aunt and uncle. I left you with them much to my sorrow when you were a year and a half old. I did not know they would abuse you. I chose them to be your physical guardians because they were the last of your blood relatives left alive and your godfather was having trouble with the law at the time. I thought it would be in your best interest to place you with family after what you had gone through. Harry your parents were murdered and you were the only survivor. It was assumed at the time that your godfather betrayed your parents or I would have left you with him." Albus grabbed Shadow's hands and squeezed them trying to offer comfort to the upset boy who was shaking his head back and forth saying no, no, no over and over again. "Harry, Mr. Kane somehow found out that your aunt and uncle were abusing you and bought you for some 5000 pounds. He then took you from this country. He should have contacted the proper authorities and told them what was happening but he didn't. He bought you then kidnapped you. Your godfather and I have been searching for you since you vanished."

Shadow felt the tears running down his cheeks, "You're wrong. You have to be wrong. My father wouldn't do anything like that. Please, I don't know who Harry is. Can't you see that you have the wrong boy? Please just let me go home. Please."

Albus sighed then reached over to pick up the genealogy tree. He pulled the ribbon off and unrolled it. "Before you woke up I used a stemma –atis potion on you. Do you know what that is?" Shadow shook his head no. "It's used to create a family tree of the one who drinks it. This is your family tree Harry." Albus showed Shadow where the name Harry James Potter was and then traced the lines up to the names Lilly Rose Potter nee Evens and James Montgomery Potter. "Do you see Harry? He followed Lilly's name across to Petunia Lilac Dursley nee Evens and said. "Here is your aunt. Lilly's sister."

_(The complex)_

Chandos came down the stairs dressed in battle armor, with his sword strapped across his back and his staff in hand. He had two daggers tucked into the tops of his boots and another two on his belt. His hair was tied back in a short ponytail by a black leather strip and his expression promised death and destruction. His gaze cut across the room taking in the members of his family waiting there. "I will find him and bring him home." He promised. With that he apperated out of the room.

* * *

stemma –atis (1) genealogical tree 

patrius -accedo-filius(2) Father to son

genetrix -tricis accedo-filius (3) mother to son

Yes, this is Latin. I found this neat site on the web that translates English to Latin and this is the results. Spells and Potions with real Latin names.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 For His Own Protection**

Shadow bowed his head for a moment then looked up at the man in front of him. "I don't care. Whatever you say, I don't care. Chandos is my father and LeAnn is my mother. If Chandos took me then he had good reason. I don't think he did anything wrong. He saved my life when he took me. You say you're my guardian but you also said you placed me with my aunt and uncle and would have placed me with my godfather but you didn't keep me yourself so that means you didn't want me either. Well, my family does want me so just solve your problem by sending me back home."

"I can't do that Harry, this is where your parents wanted you to go to school. This is where you belong now. How about if we compromise, I'll have the wizarding children's services investigate your family and if they decide that they are fit guardians for you then I will let the adoption stand provided they allow you to finish your education here. What that means is that you will cooperate with me in your education and you will be able to spend Christmas holidays and summer vacation with your family. Is it a deal?" Albus asked.

"I don't know; I want to talk to my father before I agree to anything." Shadow answered.

"That I can't allow right now. You were brought to my care in protective custody yesterday. Until the children's services review your case you are restricted to my personal quarters for your own safety. I'll tell you what, how about if I get us both a dinner tray and we move to the living room to eat and talk. I know you must be hungry because the sleeping spell used on you was powerful enough to keep you asleep for almost 26 hours."

"Alright but can I get dressed first and I need to use the bathroom." Shadow's face reddened.

Albus grinned and with eyes twinkling he pointed to the second door. "The loo is in there. Your clothes were sent to be washed so I'll get you a robe that you can borrow for the time being. When your dressed just come into the other room and I'll have dinner for us."

Albus left the bedroom and shut the door behind him. When he heard the door to the loo shut he quickly removed the wards from the spare bedroom and placed them over the whole suit of rooms excluding his own bedroom. It wouldn't do for the boy to find out that he was a prisoner yet, nor would it do for the boy to go into his own bedroom. Too many things in there that the boy might question. Albus went to his bedroom and grabbed a set of student robes, casting a quick spell he enlarged them to a size he thought would fit Harry, and he then took the robes and placed them on the boy's bed. He would find them when he came out of the loo. That done Albus summoned a house elf and asked for two dinner trays to be brought up.

When the trays were brought he quickly got a sky blue potion and opening the vial he added two drops to the glass of pumpkin juice on the boy's tray. That should do the trick. Now to wait for the boy so they could have their 'talk'.

When Shadow finished with his personal business he took a quick shower then entered his room. There were two black robes on the bed which he guessed were left for him to wear. No underclothes or shoes though. Not even any jeans to wear under them. He hoped his clothes got back from being cleaned soon. Wearing just a robe was going to be uncomfortable. Oh well, nothing he could do about it now. He pulled one of the robes on then buttoned it up. After getting as dressed as he could he left the bedroom for the living room. The man, Mr. Dumbledore was sitting at a small table with two trays of food waiting for him.

"Sit Harry, eat." Albus smiled merrily when he heard Harry's stomach growl.

Shadow sat down on the other chair and pulled the tray toward himself. Picking up his fork he almost dove into the meal. Until he had seen the food he hadn't really know how hungry he was. When he had finished everything on his tray he pushed it back from himself and sat back on the chair waiting for the older man to finish eating. After Albus was finished he to pushed his tray back then asked Harry to come sit in a more comfortable chair in the sitting area of the room.

Shadow chose a squishy love seat and curled his legs under himself getting comfortable. He didn't feel the spell being cast on him when his back was to the old man nor did he feel the effects of the potion he had drank with the juice.

Albus sat on a chair across from Harry and began. "I'm going to ask you a little bit about your life with your family so I can present a factual case to the children's services. Please answer my questions truthfully and feel free to add any information you feel will help your case during the investigation. Tell me about the school you attend Harry."

"I don't go to school. I don't think my family thinks they can teach me anything more than what they do at home. All of us children are home schooled."

"All right, I understand that. How old were you when you got your wand and what spells can you do?"

"I don't have a wand and I don't do spells or at least I don't think they are spells. I use a staff and just think of what I want done and if I concentrate hard enough the magic just happens without a spell."

"Do you do any work around your house?"

"Yeah, that's something my father insists on. We all have to work at chores."

"What about exercise?"

"Every morning at 5:00 A.M. we get up and exercise come rain or shine we run till we're about ready to drop then we have to fight. All this before breakfast." Shadow's eyes started to water. He reached up and wiped them before looking back at Mr. Dumbledore waiting for the next question.

"What about time to play or time for leisure."

Shadow was starting to feel warm and his eyes kept watering. Albus noticed the problem the boy was having handed him a handkerchief. "Are you ok Harry?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. About play time or time off…after dinner we get time off and on Saturday we get time to play. On Sunday we always do something together as a family." He said wiping the tears that were dripping from his eyes. What was wrong with him?

"Does your father ever use corporal punishment?" Albus asked.

"I don't know what that is."

Albus smiled, "Do you ever get hit or beat as punishment?" he explained.

Shadow looked horrified, "No, never. My father would never hit us like that. When he needs to punish us he just restricts us from something. That's all."

"So he never denies you food I would guess."

Shadow looked down and held the handkerchief to his eyes. "No. he wouldn't deny us food." He mumbled.

"Harry, are you sure you're alright? We can finish this tomorrow if you would like." Albus said.

Shadow looked up at the man. "I think we should finish tomorrow. My eyes won't stop watering for some reason."

Albus stood. "I believe I have a potion that could help with that. It's probably a slight allergic reaction to something on your dinner tray." That said he went into his bedroom and came back out with a small vial of potion which he handed to the boy. "Harry, there are some rules you need to follow for the time being. They were given to me by the children's services for your own protection. Do you understand?"

Shadow opened the potion and tipped it into his mouth. "What rules?" he asked after he swallowed.

Albus smiled. "1. You may not leave these rooms without my permission and without me being there. 2. You are not permitted to mix with the other students yet. 3. You are not permitted to answer any questions that anyone asks you unless I give you permission first. 4. Until further notice you are not allowed outside. Hopefully I can get at least some of these restrictions lifted tomorrow but until they are lifted you must follow these rules. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, what you're saying is that I'm a prisoner here till some jerk in protective services backs off." Shadow yawned.

"Tired? The potion I gave you has that side effect. Why don't you go on back to bed and take a nap." Albus stood and offered a hand to help Shadow to his feet.

"Thanks." Shadow said as he pulled himself to his feet. He stood there swaying for a moment before he made his way back to the bedroom he had waked up in. Once there he threw himself across the bed and fell asleep again.

Albus stood in the doorway till he was sure Harry was asleep then he took out his wand and removed his clothes then lifted him off the bed and once again tucked him under the comforter. Smiling he then swished his wand removing the spell he had put on the boy after they had eaten dinner. "Sleep well my boy" he whispered.

In the morning Albus checked to make sure his charge was still sleeping then wrote a quick note which he put on the table before he left his quarters. Once downstairs he called a house elf and instructed him to bring breakfast to the boy when he woke up and called for it. Albus then made his way to the great hall where he sat down and enjoyed a good meal with his staff. After breakfast he informed Minerva that he had some business to attend to that would be taking him out of the castle this morning and would be unavailable for quite some time. "When I return I will be sure to let you know my dear."

"Of course Albus. Is there anything that I can help you with?" She asked.

"No, everything is under control. I just can't put this off till later." He answered. Then he bid her good day and went up to his office.

Once in his office Albus took a pinch of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace after casting a quick Incendio. Sticking his head in he called for Wizarding Children's Services. The receptionist answered the call with a surprised look on her face. "Headmaster, how may I help you?"

"Dortia correct?" He asked.

"Yes sir" she said pleased that he remembered her name from school.

"Dortia, I need to set up an appointment for about 10:00 this morning with Mr. Felis. This is a private matter concerning the safety and health of a minor child who has come under my care recently. Can you be a dear and set it up for me?"

"Of course headmaster. I would be honored to help you in any way I can." She said.

"Thank you my dear. I'll floo through at 10:00 then." With that he broke the connection.

Going to his cabinet he took out his pensive and began transferring memories to show to Mr. Felis. Humming a little tune Albus had high hopes that this part of the plan would be completed this morning then he could move on to the next part.

At 10:00 A.M. Albus gathered his pensive and throwing a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace he stepped inside and shouted Wizarding Children's Services. Stepping from the fireplace in the reception area he held out his hand to greet Dortia. "Good morning again my dear, I trust that you had no problem setting up my appointment."

"Oh no sir, Mr. Felis is waiting for you in his office. Do you know where it's at?" She said as she shook his hand.

"Yes, of course I do Dortia, So nice to see you once again." With that Albus made his way to the office of Mr. Jonathan Felis.

When he opened the door and stepped inside Felis rose to his feet and came around the desk to greet him. "I hope everything is ok? Does this have something to do with the order Albus?" Felis asked.

"In a very real sense it does my friend but regardless of the importance to the order the information I am bringing to you may well save the life of an innocent child. I would have brought the child with me but at this time he is emotionally very fragile and not up to any questioning from strangers. Instead I have brought you my pensive with the memories of a talk we had last nigh. I am hoping we can settle this problem for the child's best interest today as I am sure you will agree after looking at these memories, he needs stability with someone who will love and care for him." With that Albus set the pensive down on Felis' desk

Stirring the memories with his wand both men leaned forward and entered the pensive.

The two men watched the first memory play out. Felis sucked in his breath as he looked at the malnourished, bruised boy curled up on the love seat.

Tell me about the school you attend Harry."

"I don't go to school. I don't think my family thinks they can teach me anything"

That memory sunk and the next one rose to the surface.

How old were you when you got your wand and what spells can you do?"

"I don't have a wand and I don't do spells"

One after another the memories played out.

"Do you do any work around your house?"

"Yeah, that's something my father insists on"

"Every morning at 5:00 A.M. we get up and exercise come rain or shine we run till we're about ready to drop then we have to fight. All this before breakfast." Shadow's eyes started to water. He reached up and wiped them before looking back at Mr. Dumbledore waiting for the next question.

"What about time to play or time for leisure."

Harry's eyes kept watering. Albus noticed the problem the boy was having handed him a handkerchief. "Are you ok Harry?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. About play time or time off…after dinner we get time off." He said wiping the tears that were dripping from his eyes.

"Does your father ever use corporal punishment?" Albus asked.

"I don't know what that is."

Albus smiled, "Do you ever get hit or beat as punishment?" he explained.

Shadow looked horrified, "No, never."

"So he never denies you food I would guess."

Shadow looked down and held the handkerchief to his eyes. "No. he wouldn't deny us food." He mumbled.

After the last memory was viewed the two men backed away from the pensive. Felis, with a trouble look on his face asked Albus, "Do you believe him when he said he isn't denied food and isn't beaten?"

"You saw the boy. Those two questions frightened him more than the others and you saw for yourself how thin he is and you saw the bruises on his face. What do you think?" Albus asked.

"I think I need his fathers name so I can get a warrant issued for his arrest. Harry, is that his first name? What's his last name? Is he a student at Hogwarts Albus?" Felis said.

Albus sighed looking very sad. "His parents are dead and did not leave a will. He was placed with his aunt and uncle when he was a baby. He was kidnapped when he was three and he was found and rescued from his kidnapper just two days ago. His name is Harry Potter."

"Merlin" Felis breathed out quietly. "The Harry Potter?"

Albus nodded his head "Now you understand why this needs to be handled quietly and quickly. If the press got a hold of this they would have a field day with it. I can imagine the headlines now. **Boy Who Live Abused By Kidnappers for 11 Years **or perhaps something along the lines of **Ministry Placed Boy Who Lived In Unsafe House…Leads to Kidnapping and Severe Child Abuse. **Did you know that his aunt and uncle SOLD the boy to his kidnappers? Jon, can you get me custody of him and a protective order preventing his aunt and uncle as well as his kidnappers from coming near him? After he was kidnapped he was taken to America and if you can believe it adopted by his kidnapper. We have to protect this boy from any further harm and he needs to be trained to use his magic. I would keep him safe at Hogwarts and arrange for tutors to bring him up to his class level. I would give him the love he needs and the safety he deserves."

Felis nodded. "I'll get the papers to you by this afternoon. I still want the name of that animal who abused him and if you can get me an address that would be great. I want him in Azkaban for what he did to that boy."

"When Harry feels comfortable enough to tell me I will be sure to let you know." Albus said. Standing he shook Felis' hand and then floo'ed back to his office.

Albus smiled when he reached his office. That part of the plan was complete and he owed it all to a potion that caused eyes to water and a well thought out glammor charm.

* * *

If needed I can supplly a time line for this story. I don't want anyone confused about when things are going on. Thanks threelade 


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 The Curse Scar**

Shadow woke with his head feeling like it was still stuffed with cotton wool and he needed a toilet. When he threw the coves back candles lit in the room so he could see what he was doing. Great, now he was naked. That man must be some sort of a pervert always taking off his clothes. Shadow snickered at the thought as he made his way to the bathroom where he took another shower after finishing his business. Strange, he never noticed last time he was in here but there wasn't a mirror in the bathroom. No windows either. As a matter of fact he didn't remember a window from when he ate before in the other room or in his bedroom. He opened the tooth brush left on the sink since he assumed it was for him and brushed his teeth. Well, he felt a little better now if only someone would bring his clothes back and this stuffed feeling in his head would go away he would be great.

Shadow went back to the bedroom and looked in the closet. The other robe that man had given him was hanging up in there. Well better that then letting everything show he thought as he pulled it on and buttoned it up. The stupid thing came almost to his knees. God he looked ridicules.

Shadow went into the other room and looked around. Nope, he wasn't mistaken. No windows here either. He went to the first door across the room and tried to grab the knob. What the hell? He couldn't put his hand on the door knob. Must be some type of wards to keep him in his cage. Fuck, this sucked.

He went to the second door expecting the same thing and wasn't disappointed. Couldn't touch that one either. Looking around the room he spotted the parchment on the table and walked over to see what it was. A note addressed to him he guessed since that man told him his real name was Harry instead of Henry.

_Harry, My Boy._

_I trust you slept well last night and awoke this morning feeling refreshed. _

_Breakfast will be served to you as soon as you call for the house elf named Bitty. Just let her know if you have any preferences in your food selections._

_I wish I could be there with you when you awake but unfortunately I have business at Children's Services this morning and a school to run when I get back. I will return as soon as I may to let you know how things went with regards to you and if nothing else we will eat dinner together so I can bring you up to speed._

_With Respect, _

_Albus Dumbledore _

It was morning then that meant he had slept through the night so he had been missing for one day now. So much for making it home before they noticed he was missing. They were going to be frantic now.

"Bitty" Shadow called softly and with a pop the house elf was in the room.

"You be callin me Young Master? Is you wantin breakfast now?" She asked.

"Yeah Bitty, thanks." Shadow said with a grin. House elves always amused him with the way they talked to people. Especially when he knew they could talk as well as anyone else if they wanted to. Bad grammar was just a house elf thing.

"Master Dumbledore Sir says I is to be gettin you whatever you's is wantin to be eatin but you's is to let Bitty know what that is bein Young Master Sir." Bitty came back with.

"Anything would be fine Bitty, I'm not picky" Shadow sat down at the table and with a snap of her fingers a tray loaded with more eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, fruit slices, toast and cereal than he could ever eat at one meal appeared. A glass of pumpkin juice completed the meal.

After Shadow ate he explored the room he was in. Some books on the bookshelf, nothing much in the way of personal positions. A fireplace but no floo powder that he could find, a desk with some parchment, quills and a bottle of ink in one of the drawers. Nothing else.

Shadow grabbed a piece of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink (has this man never heard of normal paper and ball point pens?) and moving to the table he started to make a list.

1. The woman who had shot him in the neck. Who the hell were those two and why did they shoot him like that. Why wasn't he dead or even injured from that?

2. Loo – bathroom? Where was he anyway? The man talked with a British accent so was he even in America now?

3. What happened to his staff?

4. Wait a minute; Dumbledore had said something last night about sleep spells that kept him out for over 20 hours? Who would do something like that to a kid? Also with 20 plus hours of sleep and this being morning had he been missing for two days?

5. Who brought him here in the first place? He said something about protective custody yesterday. Protective custody sounded like something the FBI would do or perhaps even the police. Was he in some sort of trouble with the law?

6. He said that dad had kidnapped him. Was dad in trouble with the law?

7. Why would a headmaster have custody of him? Also if he did why did he send him away before? If he thought he had good reason then he still should have checked on him sometime.

8. He said his parents were murdered. Who did it and why?

9. Stemma –atis. He made me drink some sort of potion to make my family tree. Could that have been what made him so confused when he woke up? Note to self, check into potion effects and side effects.

10. Twinkling eyes. A sign of a very powerful Occlumency shield or maybe something else I don't know about but for now I'll go with Occlumency unless I learn otherwise. Why would he shield like that with me?

11. Hogwarts…Wasn't that where Mr. Snape teaches? A friend here would be a great help.

Shadow growled in frustration. Too many questions and not enough answers. After pacing back and forth for about 30 minutes he once again called for Bitty. "Bitty, can you deliver a message to Mr. Snape for me please?"

Bitty got a distressed look on her face and began wringing her hands together. "Young Master Sir, Bitty is being told by Master Dumbledore Sir that she is bein only to bring yous food and nothin else Young Master Sir." Bitty smacked herself on the head before Shadow could grab her arms "I is sorry Sir. Bitty is a bad elf."

"Don't you ever punish yourself because of something I want again Bitty. I don't like it." Shadow said with authority causing Bitty to look up at him in surprise. "Go on back to your duties. It's not your fault that you can't help me." With a grateful smile Bitty popped out of the room.

"Double damn. I know, watch your mouth young man." Great, now he was talking to himself and in Tracy's voice no less. Shadow went over to the book case and looked over the selection. Not much of interest but the best I can do he thought as he grabbed a book and flopped down on the love seat to begin reading.

After what seemed like hours Bitty popped in with lunch. Thanking her he sat down at the table and ate. At least that was more interesting than the reading selections available to him here. If it was just now lunch time and the old man wouldn't be back before dinner then the afternoon was gonna be one long boring stretch of time.

Shadow made lunch last as long as he could and when he was finished he went back to the love seat and curled up with the book again. Before to long boredom made him drift off to sleep.

He wasn't sure how long he slept but the old man shaking him gently woke him up. "I have your clothes here Harry" he said as he handed them to the boy. Why don't you go and get dressed then I have a surprise for you.

"Surprise?" Shadow yawned "What sort of surprise?" he asked as he grabbed his clothes.

"I'll tell you after you dress my boy." Was the response.

Shadow went to his room and dressed then returned to the living room. "Am I going home now?"

"Unfortunately not yet. This morning at the meeting with Children's Services I was told that the investigators would be contacting your family and explaining where you were and why you were here and that after they had any information for you they would contact me and let me know. I just got a floo message a short time ago and was told that your adoptive father is cooperating fully with the investigation and that he agreed that you should continue your studies here for the duration of the investigation and so I am taking you on a trip to Diagon Alley. After we get your school supplies and a few new clothes I plan on taking you to the best ice cream parlor in the world. Would you like that Harry?"

Shadow was crouched down putting on his shoes so Dumbledore couldn't see his face as he rolled his eyes. "Sounds great. So my father is cooperating with the investigation? Any idea how long that will take? I really do want to go home as soon as possible."

Albus sighed, "No I don't but I will continue to keep you informed of any developments as soon as I learn of them. Harry, before we go I need to explain something to you about yourself. Come sit down so we can talk please." Shadow took his _usual _spot on the love seat and looked at the headmaster expectantly. "What do you know of the one called Voldermort?"

"Ummm, it's a stupid name? Sorry sir, I'll be serious." Shadow answered.

Albus chuckled, "I have heard him called Voldy, Moldy and Moldyshorts myself." His face became serious and he said. "He is a very powerful dark, evil wizard. He is also the one who murdered your parents when you were little more than a baby. He wanted to kill you but your parents died trying to protect you from him. After they were dead he tried to kill you but the curse he used rebounded back to him. He was not killed but he was cast out of his body and until recently was relatively harmless. I say recently because he managed to make another body to inhabit and he is once again back. Unfortunately his first goal is to finish what he started and kill you. He seems to think you are a grave danger to himself. You're very famous here in the wizarding community and that is ultimately why you were placed under my protection and why your father agreed to leave things the way they were till the investigation is finished. He know I can protect you, keep you safe."

Shadow looked shocked at this information. "How would he even find me? My official name is Henry James Kane, not Harry Putter." Sighing he said "I'm guessing we're in England? I live in America. I just don't see him being much of a danger to me sir."

Albus couldn't help it, he laughed. "Harry my boy, your last name is Potter not Putter." His face became serious again. "He would find you. You have a scar on your forehead shaped like a lightning bolt that identifies you beyond any doubt. It was hidden with a very clever glammor but if I could detect it then he could."

"Huhh? I don't have a scar like that." Albus pulled his wand from a pocket on his robes and conjured a small hand mirror which he handed to the boy. After looking at the scar in the mirror Shadow said "You canceled the glammor then? I don't understand how this scar survived. When I was three I was badly burned with some hot oil on my face. I was almost blinded from it but my uncle Martin developed a potion that healed up all the scars on my body including the ones on my face, he also developed a potion that corrected my eyes." He handed the mirror back. "How did this one survive?"

"It's caused by a curse cast by a very powerful wizard. Things like that always resist healing, even magical healing. I'm guessing that after your face was healed of all except this scar the glammor was cast. I am sorry that it was removed by the people who collected you from your home. I myself would have left it in place to make you a little less easy to identify." Albus explained. "Well, enough of that. Lets go get our shopping done." That said he stood up and motioned for Shadow to stand also. "I need to hold onto you to get you through the wards on this apartment. We'll floo out of my office. Please remember, when we get to Diagon Alley you are to stay close to me at all times."

Albus opened the door and placing his hands on Shadow's shoulders he guided him from the room. Shadow shivered when he passed through the wards and found himself in a hall way facing a statue of a gargoyle. Ugh, ugly looking thing. The headmaster approached the statue and it jumped aside revealing a set of spiral steps that moved like an escalator. Riding their way to the top another door was open and Shadow found himself guided into a round room with the walls covered in portraits. Albus went to the fireplace and grabbed a pot of floo powder which he held out to Shadow. Dipping his hand in he took some then faced the fireplace. The headmaster cast an Incendio then told Shadow. "Diagon Alley only my boy. Anything else will just not work."

Shadow briefly thought of defying him but decided to cooperate for the time being. After all the man was trying to help him although he was misguided and misinformed. Stepping into the fireplace he threw down the powder shouting Diagon Alley and spun out of sight. At the other end the fireplace spat him out. He stumbled forward into what looked like a bar. Weird. Hearing the rushing sound he looked back to see the fireplace spit out the headmaster.

"This way" and Albus directed him out the back door to a wall of bricks one of which Albus tapped with his wand. Shadow watched with wide eyes as the bricks rearranged themselves into an open arch that led directly into the alley. Albus put his hand on the boy's back and once again told him to stay close then gently pushed him through the arch. The two made their way to a shop called Ollivander's where Shadow got his first ever wand. It felt weak to him and he couldn't access his powers very well with it but at least he would be able to do some magic with it. The two of them also shopped for clothes, robes, potion ingredients, school books and many other supplies he was told he would need for his classes. After they were finished with what Albus said were the necessities they went to a shop called Quality Quidditch Supplies where Albus insisted on buying Shadow a broom. It was of good quality but wasn't as good as the one he had at home.

Thanking the man for the things that had been purchased for him the two made their way back to the bar and floo'ed back to the headmaster's office. After his purchases had been dropped off in his bedroom Albus told Shadow that he would be back for him after dinner was finished in the great hall. He was to be introduced to the student body and sorted so that he could start his classes the following day. "One thing Harry, despite the fact that you will be sorted you will still be staying here at night. You will; however be eating lunch with your classmates. I will arrange tutoring for you to bring you up to speed in any class you are behind in. I'll send Bitty with a tray for you. Please put on one of your robes for the sorting." With that Albus left Shadow alone again.

Shadow grabbed one of the black robes and shrugged into it. He sat at the table and waited for Bitty and dinner. After eating Albus came back into the room and said. "Are you ready?"

Shadow actually thought about it for a few seconds then asked, "If I said no would it matter?" Albus shook his head no. "Then I guess I'm ready." With a hand on his shoulder Albus once again guided Shadow through the wards on the doorway of the room. The two walked side by side into the great hall which was full of students who were in the process of finishing their dinner. Shadow looked around noticing that there were four long tables full of children and one shorter one at the other end of the room that had adults seated at it. He guessed that was the staff table. Looking at each teacher he finally spotted Mr. Snape who was staring directly at him with an expressionless face. Albus led him over to the staff table and stopped in front of a stern faced older woman.

"Minerva would you be so good as to get me the sorting hat and stool. We have a new student." Albus said.

With a slightly shocked look on her face she nodded and ducked out of the door behind the staff table.

Shadow was definitely uncomfortable. All of the teachers were staring at him now and he could feel the students doing the same. One of the teachers even went so far as to half stand and stretch his hand out toward Shadow. Albus gently turned him so he was facing the student body once again. Clearing his throat he said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a very special and long over due announcement to make. We have a new student who will be sorted in just a few moments. After his sorting he will be joining the fourth year class. Please welcome to our school…Harry Potter!"

Dead silence for a few seconds and then the sound of glass shattering as someone from behind him dropped a cup on the floor. A few scattered claps that quickly grew as students and staff rose to their feet in excitement applauding. Cheers joined in with the applause to create a deafening wave of noise.

Shadow wanted nothing more than to run and hide. He thought the British were supposed to be quiet and stuffy. Man, if they got this excited over a new student what would they do if they got a good tax refund…….Jump for joy and scream bloody murder?

The woman that Albus had sent from the room returned with a stool and a dirty pointed hat. She set the stool down in front of him and directed him to sit which he did. The noise died out and everybody leaned forward to watch what was going on. When it was quiet the woman put the hat on his head. It promptly slid down over his eyes. He hoped the last person that had worn this thing had washed his hair before he had put it on. "ahhh"

What was that? It was in his head. "Harry Potter, my word, I had quite given up hope of having you here." Shadow reached up and yanked the hat off his head and stared at it. It talked to him, he was sure of it.

Albus smiled. "Harry put the hat back on so it can sort you please."

Shadow jerked his eyes to the headmaster "It talks"

"Yes, I know it talks. It needs to talk so it can sort you. It looks for character traits in each student so the student can be sorted into the proper house. Please put the hat back on and let it do its job if you don't mind." Albus explained.

Shadow replaced the hat on his head and stiffened up as he heard it say "Now that you understand what my function is perhaps we can begin. Hmmm you would do well in any of the houses although your shining qualities are intelligence and a very fierce loyalty to your family. Those two qualities are so strong that they cannot be separated one from the other. So a first for Hogwarts." With that the hat shouted out loud "Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff!"

Dead silence greeted those words. The Boy Who Lived was sorted into two houses and neither of them was Gryffindor.

Slowly the clapping started with two of the tables till almost everyone had joined in once again. Shadow once again removed the hat from his head and then stood up. Handing the hat to the woman who had first placed it on his head he turned to the headmaster once again and asked. "What happens now sir?"

"Now I introduce you to your heads of house and the rest of your teachers then you receive your schedule of classes then you go to bed so you will be well rested for class in the morning my boy." He turned to Minerva and asked her to have the staff meet him in the staff room in 10 minutes then guided Shadow from the hall.

Shadow and Albus made their way to the staff room and sat down to wait for the other teachers to come. After about two minutes one of the teachers slammed the door open, glanced around the room quickly then rushed over and hauled the startled boy to his feet. Before he could do anything else he found himself flat on his back on the floor with a foot on his neck. The teacher started to move when he heard the boy quietly say "I wouldn't if I were you." And the boy applied more pressure on his neck almost cutting off his breath. Serius stilled imminently.

Albus looked shocked as he reached out his hand and placed it slowly on the boy's shoulder. "Harry, let your godfather up please. He wasn't trying to hurt you. He was just excited about you being here safe and sound."

Clapping started from the door way. Shadow looked up and saw four other teachers and Mr. Snape. Snape was the one clapping. He had a funny little half smile on his face as he looked down at the man under Shadow's foot. "Now that you've properly greeted your godson Black perhaps we can get this meeting over so I can get back to my work."

Shadow smiled at Snape, "Hi Mr. Snape, are you doing ok?"

Snape looked at Shadow, "I see that your hair is no longer hot pink Shadow. Welcome to Hogwarts."

Shadow moved his foot from the neck of his godfather and held out a hand to help him up. "Sorry about that sir. I didn't understand what you were doing."

Blacks face bloomed red and he grinned at his godson. "Can I hug you now Harry?"

Shadow nodded uncomfortably and allowed his godfather to finish the hug that he had so rudely interrupted.

Albus took a few minutes and introduced Shadow to his two heads of house and then continued the introductions to the rest of the teachers. He then handed the boy a list of subjects he would be taking. He explained to his heads of house about the unusual arrangements in place for Harry's safety and he explained that Harry would be staying in his guest bedroom for the time being only joining his house mates for lunch every day except the weekends. He asked the teachers to spend time with Harry over the next couple of days to asses his level in the classes he would be sitting in and then explained that Harry would be tutored to bring him up to speed if he was behind in any subject.

After the explanations, introductions and plans were all talked over Albus escorted Shadow back to his room and told him to get some sleep. He had a busy day tomorrow.

_(Riddle Manor)_

Snape apperated in with a soft pop late that night. Kissing his masters robe hem he waited to be recognized.

"Why are you here Severus?" Voldermort asked.

"I have news that I thought you would want to hear right away Master." Voldermort nodded for him to continue. "The old man introduced a boy to the school tonight after dinner calling him Harry Potter." Voldermort hissed in displeasure. Snape smirked. "It is not. I have met this boy before. He looks a lot like James Potter but he is not the Potter brat. The boy had a lightning bolt scar but I know for a fact that it is fake."

"Explain yourself Severus." Voldermort demanded.

"The boy is one of the children I had checked on and he is not Potter. He is an American. That Dumbledore would try to pass off a fake makes me think he has found out that the Potter boy is dead or else he would not be trying this deception." Snape explained. "I know he is fake because the whole world knows that the famous scar is on his forehead on the **RIGHT **side above his eyebrow. This boy has a scar on the **LEFT** side of his forehead. The old fool forgot which side had the scar. Of course those sheep that call themselves the wizarding community will just dismiss it as a mistake on the part of history but I know different. I saw the boy after he was taken from Godric's Hollow and before he was hidden."

Voldermort began to laugh. "He must be dead then. Good work Severus. I am proud of you."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 Plots Within Plots **

Shadow changed into the pajamas that Dumbledore had bought for him earlier that day and climbed into the bed even though he didn't feel tired. Too many things had happened today to make rest easy tonight or at least that's what Shadow thought before he fell asleep. That was of course what Dumbledore had been waiting for so that he could finish the work he had started on the boy. Albus cast a sleep spell on the already sleeping boy to prevent him from waking up before he was finished. After casting two more spells on the boy he once again pried open the boys mouth and poured another potion in and caused Shadow to swallow. Finished. Now the boy belonged to him both physically and legally. To make matters even better as time passed and the magic was allowed to work the boy would even forget his past as his trust developed for the headmaster. It had been a good day's work and Albus went to his bedroom and made ready for bed. He needed his rest too because getting the boy started in his classes and deflecting questions was going to be tiring work tomorrow.

In the morning Albus woke Shadow up and told him his breakfast would be served in about 30 minutes.

Shadow showered and dressed then sat down and ate breakfast. After he was finished he was escorted down to the basement (Did this place have a basement or would that be cellar or even a dungeon?) by Albus who explained that this morning he would be taking potions from Professor Snape who would be assessing his academic level to see if he would need to be tutored to bring him up to the speed that his classmates were at.

Shadow rolled his eyes at that but truth be told he was looking forward to this class. He needed to talk to Mr. Snape and he had not had a chance yesterday. Well, he HAD a chance but he wanted this conversation to be private between the two of them instead of being overheard by the rest of the teachers and the headmaster.

Albus opened a door and gently pushed Shadow into the room. "Ah professor, I'm sorry we are late this morning. I know how you dislike having your classes disrupted so I am sure now that Harry knows his way I will not cause him to be late again."

Snape nodded his head and said. "I will excuse it this morning but after this I will take points if he is tardy again." Snape then turned to Shadow and said "Wait here. I need to get the rest of the class started then I need to spend a little time finding out what you know about potions. Headmaster, I would like to have a meeting with you this evening after dinner. We can discuses what I find out about Harry's training in potions."

Snape set the rest of the class to reading a chapter in their books and then told them to write 10 inches on the difference between the two potions mentioned in that chapter. He then escorted Shadow to his office and warded the room for silence before casting several spells on the quiet boy. Snape looked shocked after the last spell was cast. He motioned Shadow to a chair and then asked him if he had recognized the spells he had just used.

"Silencing, privacy, one to detect spells used within the last 72 hours, one to identify any spells used and one I think reads magical auras but I'm not to sure about that one." Shadow said. "I can tell by your face that you found something but I don't know what it is."

Snape started nodding his head as Shadow listed the spells that had been cast and when Shadow finished Snape said. "What I found is that you have been subjected to a very tightly controlled cutting curse, multiple petrificus totalus, a blood ward which I cannot identify, multiple sleep spells, your magic is suppressed, you have a very slow acting memory modifier placed on you, a tracking spell, a glammor and a spell that is most often used on very young children. A monitoring spell." Snape looked angry, "You have also ingested a stemma -atis potion and a potion that makes eyes water as well as one that I cannot identify."

As Snape talked Shadow's face lost all expression. He was pissed. "Can you remove them? The blood ward, the suppression on my magic, and the rest?"

"You understand who did this to you do you not?" Shadow nodded. "Then you will also understand why I will not remove those that I can. If I did when he found out we will have lost the element of surprise. I need to get someone in here to look at the blood ward and the binding on your magic. I can sense the binding but I cannot break it and I have no clue what the blood ward does. The memory charm is another one I don't have the skill to break. Shadow, he is dangerous. When I got back here I confronted him about some information your father had given me to see what his reaction would be and if I had not been prepared in advance I would have been obliviated. As it is the headmaster thinks I don't remember that conversation with your father. My memories as far as he is concerned is of an enjoyable holiday spent trying to convince your father to return to the order."

"So what do I do now? I don't like the feeling that someone is trying to control me." Shadow said.

"What you do now is act. Hopefully you're a good enough actor that he will not feel it is necessary to use legilimency on you. I will inform the headmaster that you need to be tutored in potions to bring you up to your year mates. That will allow me to spend unsupervised time with you. I will also inform your family as to your whereabouts and as I said before I will bring in an expert to look at what has been done to you. I'll need a few days to get everything done so please, please don't do anything rash. You do not need him to take any corrective actions against you. I don't know what that could lead to but I suspect that after having seen what he will do to try and control you that it would not be good."

"I'll behave myself. With my magic blocked and my staff missing I can't do much about anything right now except mouth off and I think your right about that. It would only cause more trouble for me." Shadow looked directly into Snapes eyes. "Check my shields for me. I can't feel them right now and I need to make sure they are still up."

"And if they aren't what do you want me to do?" Snape asked.

"Mom taught you how to use legilimency and occlumency. She taught me too so you should be able to help me rebuild my shields if they need it." Shadow answered.

Snape took out his wand and pointed it at Shadow and quickly cast a legilimency on him then using the time in Shadows mind he inspected the shields the boy had up. He strengthened them in several places before gently leaving. "That will hold off any except a very determined attack and I don't think Dumbledore wants to do that. He seems to be trying to make you think he is your friend. I think you're safe for now."

The two of them went back to the classroom and Snape told the boy to read the chapter and try to finish the assignment before class was over.

After potions Snape had one of the other students escort Shadow to muggle studies. Whoever thought up that class should have been obliviated before he decided to inflict it on other students Shadow thought. Boring and beyond boring. Next was ancient runes which was fairly interesting although below the level he was studying at home. Shadow kept his knowledge of the subject to himself and placed his work around average with the rest of the class.

Lunch was next on the agenda and when he got to the great hall he sat down at one end of the Ravenclaw table to eat. Several students sat with him and he spent the entire lunch time answering questions that he thought were safe to answer.

The afternoon was more classes including charms which he did horrible at. He just couldn't get use to a wand and accessing his magic was extremely difficult with the blocks in place. His charms professor was not pleased with his work at all and told him he would need some special tutoring to bring him up to the level of his age mates. Noting surprising for Shadow there.

After his last class of the day was over Shadow decided to go outside and look around. When he approached the doors he found that he could only get about a foot away from them before he ran into an invisible barrier. Fuck, was he not even allowed to go outside? Apparently not because no matter how hard he pushed he could move no closer than he was now.

That was how Dumbledore found him. Albus directed him to return to their quarters to eat and when he was finished he was told to do some studying before bed. "I will try to return to our rooms early tonight but I have meetings with several professors tonight so if I'm not back before you go to bed, sleep well my boy."

"When you get back tonight will you answer some questions for me?" Shadow asked.

With a smile Albus agreed.

Shadow ate his dinner, then took out the notes he had made before and started adding what he had learned today.

1. The woman who had shot him in the neck. Who the hell were those two and why did they shoot him like that. Why wasn't he dead or even injured from that?

2. Loo – bathroom? Where was he anyway? The man talked with a British accent so was he even in America now? Scotland. Snape had answered that question for him.

3. What happened to his staff?

4. Wait a minute; Dumbledore had said something last night about sleep spells that kept him out for over 20 hours? Who would do something like that to a kid? Also with 20 plus hours of sleep and this being morning had he been missing for two days?

5. Who brought him here in the first place? He said something about protective custody yesterday. Protective custody sounded like something the FBI would do or perhaps even the police. Was he in some sort of trouble with the law? Dumbledore had arranged it somehow but how did he do it without me sensing the magic of the women who kidnapped me and what was with the gun?

6.He said that dad had kidnapped him. Was dad in trouble with the law?

7. Why would a headmaster have custody of him? Also if he did why did he send him away before? If he thought he had good reason then he still should have checked on him sometime.

8. He said his parents were murdered. Who did it and why? According to Snape and Dumbledore it was some turkey named Voldermort and as for why? Snape said it had to do with a proficy.

9.Stemma –atis. He made me drink some sort of potion to make my family tree. Could that have been what made him so confused when he woke up? Note to self, check into potion effects and side effects.

10. Twinkling eyes. A sign of a very powerful Occlumency shield or maybe something else I don't know about but for now I'll go with Occlumency unless I learn otherwise. Why would he shield like that with me?

11. Hogwarts…Wasn't that where Mr. Snape teaches? A friend here would be a great help.

12. Dumbledore was not a friend. He bound my magic and cast some sort of blood ward on me.

13. He is keeping me on a tight leash. I can't go outside.

14. Wands suck.

15. Snape seems like an ally but can I trust him? I think so. I need someone to trust.

After Shadow was finished updating his list he took a shower then studied charms till he felt sleepy. Dumbledore had not come back yet so Shadow went to bed.

* * *

Dumbledore, Snape and Flitwick were having a meeting to discuss Harry's skills in potions and charms. Both professors told Albus that the boy was behind his class mates and need to be tutored to catch up with his age group. It was decided that Snape would tutor him from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Mondays and Flitwick do the same on Tuesdays.

"What are we going to do about his dorm?" Flitwick asked. "I mean he is a Ravenclaw but he's also Hufflepuff so where will the boy be sleeping at night or do we double up his things so he can have robes and a bed in both dorms?"

"For the time being the boy will stay in my rooms to keep him safe. He has several people looking for him and none of them mean him well. That is why he is also restricted to the castle unless I give permission and he has guards with him. I have high hopes that some of the people after him can be brought to justice soon and I will be able to loosen up some of the restrictions that bind him but till that time it is for his own best interest that he be kept close at hand." Albus explained.

Flitwick shuddered, "I can imagine. Death eaters, He Who Must Not Be Named and Merlin knows who else. Very well, we can talk about where he sleeps after it becomes an issue." With that professor Flitwick excused himself and left the meeting to Snape and Dumbledore.

"Now Severus, what did you wish to talk to me about tonight?" Albus asked.

"To be blunt Albus, I want to know where the scar came from. It was not there when I visited his family two weeks ago and the second thing I want to know is how you got permission from Chandos to have him here at the school." Snape said.

"The first is an easy question to answer. He always had it. It was hidden under a very powerful glammor. As for the second…I did not ask. He was rescued by ministry officials and brought here. Childrens services are investigating Chandos to insure that he is the best possible guardian for such an important and endangered boy. I have nothing to do with it other than to agree to keep him here and safe till their investigation is finished. Understand Severus, I am telling you this in the strictest of confidences and nothing of what has passed between us here is to go any further till the investigation is finished. Please respect this." Albus said.

Snape bowed his head in acknowledgement of what was asked of him then said. "I agree." With that he excused himself from the meeting.


	14. Chapter 14

So sorry, I was tired last night whenI first wrote this chapter so this morning after a good nights sleepI rewrote it and made some corections on it. I pleased with the changes to it andI hope you will be too. threelade

**Chapter 14 Schedules**

Shadow slammed the door to his bedroom in a fit of temper. He really didn't know how much more of this he could take. First he gets kidnapped by some crazy old man that wants to use him for some shady purpose and won't even let him go to a window to get a breath of fresh air and now what little free time he had was taken from him. Shadow crumpled the new schedule he had been handed by Dumbledore and threw it across the room. If there had been anything in the room that was smashable it would have been in a million pieces by now.

About the only bright spot that he could see was on Monday he had remedial potion lessons with Mr. Snape and that time was set aside for them to keep each other up-to-date on what was happening. Hopefuly on Monday he would have some word about his family and the expert that Snape was bringing in would be here to help him. Lord knows he needed help because if he had to deal with this crap for to much longer he would be as crazy as the headmaster.

Shadow picked up the parchment and after smoothing it out he reread it.

Monday 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Remedial Potions with Professor Snape

Tuesday 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.Remedial Charms with Professor Flitwick

Wednesday6:00 to 8:00 p.m.Magical Dueling with Tonks, Moony, Moody R.O.R .

Thursday6:00 to 8:00 p.m.Remedial DADA with Professor Black

Friday 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.Remedial Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall

Saturday06:00 to 09:00 a.m. Martial Arts Training with Shacklebolt

Saturday09:00 to 09:30 a.m.Breakfast

Saturday09:30 to 10:30 a.m.History of Dark Arts with Headmaster Dumbledore

Saturday 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.Free time

Saturday11:30 to 12:30 p.m.Lunch

Saturday12:30 to 2:30 p.m.Magical Dueling with Tonks, Professor Black, Moony

Saturday2:30 to 4:00 p.m. Free time

All Saturday activities will be held in the R.O.R. with preselected students as companions.

Sunday9:00 to 11:30 Supervised play time outside with any two guards. Shacklebolt, Tonks, Moony, Moody, Professor Black, Professor Snape, Bill Weasley, Arthur Weasley, or Headmaster Dumbledore.

Supervise play time outside. He had not had that since he mastered his elements and they never had to have supervision in the compound yard. This made him sound like a baby still in leading strings and what the hell was a R.O.R. anyhow. Oh, and lets not forget my preselected companions. After all, I can't be trusted to make friends on my own. They might not be ones that will help twist me in the shape that crazy fucker wants.

Damn. If he had to spend to much more time around that professor Black he might just finish what he had started that first day he met him cause the man would just not leave him alone. "Harry how are you doing today? Harry, do you need any more help? Harry would you like to play chess after classes are over for the day. Harry, would you like me to try and get permission from the headmaster to keep you company for dinner?" and yesterday when he had him for remedial DADA it was even worse. The man kept trying to hug him and telling him he was his friend. Twice he even broke down and started to cry.

Shadow needed a break or he felt like he would crack. The stress of pretending that everything was ok, having his life taken from him like this, missing his family so bad it hurt and that smug old man who had caused all of his problems acting like life was wonderful was just to much. Shadow sat down on the bed and let the schedule drop to the floor again and started rocking back and forth trying to comfort himself. It was what he use to do when he was small and he never really outgrew the habit. He just hadn't done it for a long time because his family was always there to comfort him when he needed it till now. After about 30 minutes he fell asleep.

_(Coumpound)_

LeAnn took the letter off the owl and opened it. It was from Severus Snap.

_Chandos, _

_Shadow is here at Hogwarts. He is safe and unharmed but he is being held a prisoner by Dumbledore. If you can arrange to send me his staff he would be very grateful. Shadow is afraid it is lost for good. If you can then send it to Gringotts in care of Raveark. He will see that I get it and I will see that Shadow gets it._

_Please do not at this time try to rescue him because I fear what the Headmaster might do. He is manipulative and has a tremendous amount of pull with the ministry and at this time is spreading it about that you kidnapped the boy from his aunt and uncle. He is also claiming the boy is Harry Potter and this gives him extra support. Unfortunatly I am fairly sure that he is. Dumbledore had me make a stemma -atis_ _potion which he fed to Shadow and according to Shadow the genealogical_ _tree it produced seems to support that. _

_Once again I am begging, although it has got to be hard for your family and particularly for Chandos DO NOT INTERFEAR AT THIS TIME. There is the chance that he could take some sort of legal action against you and with the support of the ministry I am fairly sure he would win. _

_Several of us are working from the inside trying to shake him from his power base but we need time to work. I will be in touch with you again to give you updates on what is going on here as often as I have news._

_Severus Snape._

LeAnn passed the letter to the other adults present. "Is there some way we can contact Chandos? He needs to know about this ASAP."

Martin after having read the letter shook his head no. "You know he said he would contact us when he had some news. We can only wait for that now."

"Do you think it's true? Did we somehow manage to snage Harry Potter?" Tracy asked.

LeAnn's face took on a grim smile. "You know what? I don't really give a happy rats ass what his name was before. He's my son now and if that old man thinks he can change that now then he can just take a flying fuck on a donut."

_(Gringotts)_

Raveark read the letter twice. So they had found Harry Potter and Dumbledore had control of him. Now that was something they would have to correct as soon as they could because Dumbledore wouldn't hesitate to hurt the boy if that was what it took to use him. Well one thing he could do right now with the information he did have…

Raveark called Griphook into his office. "I need you to freeze the Potter vaults. The heir has apparently been found alive and well. Until he comes here in person and signs some paperwork I don't want any activity on those accounts. No exceptions."

Griphook bowed, "It will be done my lord."

Raveark smiled. If nothing else that would annoy the old man and there was no way he could get around it. 'I wonder if I can push it far enough to demand a private meeting with the heir before the vaults are opened again. I would love to talk to him. Perhaps Snape could arrange it.'

_(Riddle Manor)_

Lord Voldermort had been in a wonderful mood all week after having heard Snapes report. The brat was dead and Dumbledore was trying to pass off a fake to secure his power base. Well, let the old man make his pointless plans because once it became known that he had a fake the wizarding community would loose confidence in him thus making my job easier.

Voldermort went to the bedroom that Lucius had been installed in after his punishment. Grabbing his arm he putting his finger on the dark mark and ignoring the whimper from his pet he summoned his followers, it was time for a celebration and then he needed his inner circle because it was also time to make some plans of his own.

Voldermort sat on the edge of the bed and combed his fingers through Lucius hair as the man shivered in fear. Perhaps it was also time to forgive Lucius for the betrayal he had suffered at his hands - or perhaps not. Voldermort still shivered in anger every time he thought of how Lucius had lived the high life after lying his way out of prison. This had been his right hand man. His favorite and he had betrayed him in the worst possible way. He had denied him and said he had been controlled by magic to cause him to act the way he had. He had not searched for him to help him in his time of need. Instead Voldermort had to rely on Wormtail. That worthless, spineless piece of shit to help him. And to make matters worse he had lost his son. Voldermort had wanted that boy because even as a baby he could sense the elemental magic in the boy.

Voldermort's eyes began to glow as he thought of all Lucius had cost him. Time as a disembodied sprite, a powerful follower, a confidant and a friend. Hands shaking in rage he pulled the helpless man from the bed and threw him to the floor.

Lucius scuttled to the corner and crouched down in fear of what was to happen to him now. Since the Dark Lord had regained a body his mood was very uncertain and he was more prone to use violence against his followers. If he could Lucius would have left but he was trapped here. Trapped by his dark mark and trapped by the wards. Lucius went to his knees and bowed his head to the ground in his corner hoping this act of servitude and defeat would appease his master. Tears dripped onto the floor. "Please Master," he begged not quite knowing what he begged for. Just please

Voldermort crouched down in front of his servant and lifted his head so the two were looking at each other. "You've not seen your wife since I've been back my pet. Would you like to?"

"If that would please you Master" Lucius said

"Give me the keys to the wards on your property so that I can send someone to fetch her to the celebration we are having today. I will let you see her and perhaps you can begin making another child to replace the one you lost me. Would you like that my pet?" Voldermort purred as he stroked Lucius cheek with his thumb.

Lucius shuddered before he answered his master. "Whatever you will Master." And he allowed Voldermort into his mind and gave up the keys to the wards on Malfoy manor.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 Boring Saturdays.**

In the morning Shadow was awakened by Dumbledore and told that the headmaster would be escorting him to The Room of Requirements for the day. "Please dress in loose clothing under your robes that you will be comfortable being active in my boy." He was told before Dumbledore left his bedroom.

Shadow smiled as the thought of the way the headmaster had instructed him to dress. Loose comfortable clothing under robes. Like robes could ever be comfortable. Shadow dressed in a pair of sweats and some trainers and left the room sans robe. Dumbledore glanced at his dress and raised an eyebrow but didn't send him back for the robe. A small victory but a victory none the less.

Shadow entered the room of requirements and looked around with interest. It was almost like being outside. There was a grass covered track that looked to be about 1/8 mile around and an obstacle course set up in the middle of the track.

The room was occupied by a tall slender black man with an earring in his left ear. Well, so much for the 'preselected students as companions' that were supposed to be here. Maybe he got lucky and they all slept in today.

The man came over to greet Shadow "Harry, my name is Kingsley Shacklebolt and I've been asked to teach you self defense and martial arts of a muggle kind. To someone not use to this kind of training the disciplines necessary may seem strange and unusual. You will need to do physical exercise to build up your stamina and endurance so we will begin as soon as the others arrive by running. Because this is your first day we will only run one mile." With a quick smile Shacklebolt asked him if he had any questions. "Now will be the time to ask them if you do."

Shadow waged an internal debate with himself. Should he tell the man that he had some training or just let him find out the hard way? As tempting as it was to just wait and wipe the floor up with the man he decided to explain that his father had been training him in martial arts and weapon fighting for several years. After all, the man might be skilled enough to wipe the floor up with him instead of the other way around.

"Mr. Shacklebolt, my father…" The door flew open and twelve kids came trooping in, some of them complaining about the early hour two of them still had wet hair, four of them had red hair and four were two sets of twins. One of the sets of twins was red headed boys and the other two were dark skinned girls, the twin girls looked like they were from India. Shadow wondered idly if the redheads were all related. He studied the kids that Dumbles had selected to be his friends. At least two of them were stupid gits. Didn't they know that taking a shower before working out was a waste of time? He turned his attention back to Shacklebolt and listened to what the man was saying as he started doing some stretching exercises.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?" Shacklebolt said. "As I was just explaining to Mr. Potter, in order to excel at martial arts and unarmed fighting you have to be physically fit. That means an exercise program must be instated and followed everyday. Today we will set up an exercise program designed specifically for each of you and I expect you to follow them without moaning, groaning or complaining. You were all selected by your Headmaster to participate in this program because he believes that each of you have the fortitude to finish what you start. We will begin with running for one mile then I will work with each of you individually to assess your physical fitness and where you need to put the most work at. Do you all understand?"

Everyone gave some sort of acknowledgement before they were told to make 8 complete laps on the track. All thirteen students and their instructor started running. By the end of the mile the only ones not huffing and puffing for air was Shadow and Shacklebolt. The kids threw themselves to the ground to rest except Shadow who wandered over to look over the obstacle course. It didn't look like it would cause him any problems because it was very similar to the one that he was use to at home. It was a little smaller but he guessed that allowances had to be made for the fact that this whole set up was inside.

Shacklebolt came over to him and asked him if he had run at home. "You seem like your in fairly good physical shape and you knew the stretching exercise I plan on teaching the rest of the children."

Shadow just nodded at the question and waved his hand to indicate the course. "That too. I was trying to tell you before the others showed up. I've done this for years. My father wanted to make sure that all of his kids could defend themselves. This looks like the one back home but it's smaller."

Shacklebolt smiled and said. "It's patterned after the one used in Auror training."

"That explains it then. My dad was an Auror a long time ago." Shadow said.

"Yes I know. I am surprised that you knew that though. Who told you? The Headmaster?" Shacklebolt asked.

Shadow looked puzzled for a moment then his face cleared. "My adopted father."

Shacklebolt nodded, "I understand now. What's his name? I know almost all the Auror's past and present."

"You wouldn't know him. We live in America so the two of you wouldn't have served together. Well, unless you lived in America too that is." Shadow said.

"Born and raised in England. All right, so you've done some of this before. Ever use a weapon?"

"I own a Katana and Wakizashi sword set. My father gave them to me on my 12th birthday. I started with dulled practice swords when I was 6 years old." Shadow explained. I've been doing martial arts since I was 4 years old."

"What type do you practice?" Shaclkebolt had never expected the kid to know anything. This had possibilities.

"Mostly Tang Soo and Hapkido but I also study Aikido and Kendo fighting." Shadow said.

"I'll be teaching you Kung Fu and Jujitsu. Our weapon style fighting is the same though. What belts do you hold?" This was getting good. If the kid had any real skill then he wouldn't have to hold back to much.

"Black in all the disciplines I study." Was the unexpected answer.

Nodding his head Shacklebolt held his hand out to be shook. "I misjudged you it seems. Let's start over if you don't mind. Hi, my name's Kingsley Shacklebolt and I'd like to spar with you."

Shadow laughed as he shook the offered hand. "My friends and family call me Shadow, short for Shadow Walker and I would love to spar with you provided you don't expect me to go easy on you"

The two had collected an audience as they talked. Kingsley told the other kids to back up so they wouldn't get hurt and when they had cleared a large enough area the two faced each other and bowed before dropping in a fighting stance. The other children formed a loose circle around the two and watched the action unfold. Kingsley tried an axe kick which Shadow caught and holding the foot that had tried to hit his collar bone he aimed a roundhouse kick to the side which connected with a dull thud sound. Kingsley lost his balance when the kick connected and fell to the side but before he could hit the ground he was hit with a sweep from the swiftly moving boy. Shadow finished the movement by bringing his other foot up and stomping down on Kingsley's neck. If Shadow would not have pulled back at the last second Kingsley would have been seriously injured or even killed. The whole thing had taken less than 30 seconds. Shadow held his hand down to help the man back to his feet.

Kingsley grabbed the hand and Shadow pulled when Kingsley was back on his feet he pulled the boy into a quick hug. "That was great. I don't know what your headmaster thinks I can teach you though. Do you do Chi exercises?'

"I know some. I also know how to dance." Shadow shrugged his shoulders "The two kinda go together don't they?"

With a quick nod Kingsley said. "Right, they do. If the rest of you people are finished gossiping about what you just saw then we can get to work. Shadow, will you take half of them and I'll take the other half and we'll see if we can't start whipping them into shape." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. After unfolding it he scanned it. "Right then. George, Blaise, Ginny, Dean, Padma and Ron with Shadow. The rest of you with me."

Shadow walked a short distance away from Shacklebolt with six of the kids following him. Three of the red haired and one of the girl twins, a black haired boy and a sandy haired boy.

The tallest of the red heads held out his hand to be shook, Shadow ignored the hand as he studied the others. He knew that the tall red head was called Ron and that he and the boy Dean were in Gryffindor. The boy Blaise was Slytherin and the twin Padma was in Ravenclaw but the male twin and the red headed girl he did not know. He guessed they were George and Ginny.

"Right then, I'm called Shadow Walker and Mr. Shacklebolt wants me to assess you to see where you need to work to get into shape. Running builds leg muscles and lung capacity, pushups work on the arms and chest muscles, sit ups work on the thighs and lower back. Stretching exercises loosen up your muscle groups so you don't hurt yourself when you work out. I'll be teaching you stretching exercises first and then I want to see each of you do 10 pushups and 25 sit-ups. If you can do those then I'll know where to start and if you can't… well, that will be your first goal." He walked the small group through the warm up exercises and then watched them struggle with the pushups and sit-ups. None of them could complete the exercise although the twin George came close. He at least finished the sit-ups. After they were finished he led them through the obstacle course then showed them some simple sparing exercises.

When the class was over house elves popped in and set the newly created table for breakfast. Shadow asked Kingsley to step aside with him and as the other children attacked their breakfast the two talked about the results of their morning.

"They need to work out everyday. None of them are in shape. Do you think you can convince Dumbledore to let us meet at 05:00 every morning to work out? We could set up a track outside if he lets us or even here if that's what he wants." Shadow said.

"He has your next class today. We can tell him that they need the workout everyday or they will never get into shape." Shacklebolt laughed, "Did you see what was served for breakfast?"

"That's something else we need to talk about. Greasy bacon and sausage too much butter and jam on toast. Not enough fruits, dairy and grains. I eat lunch with the school and I know that's not any better. The diet here really sucks." Shadow grouched.

"I'll set something up with the Headmaster. Don't worry, we'll work it all out Shadow." He smiled at the boy. "Go on and eat. You have a long day ahead of you and will need to keep your energy levels up."

Shacklebolt left the room and Shadow went to the table and picked over the foods offered till he had a healthy and appealing selection. Sitting down next to Ron he started to eat. Ron was stuffing himself with toast that had half an inch of jam spread on top. With his mouth full the red head said. "Tho, fraggl who y wike va hol?" Shadow was revolted and apparently he wasn't the only one. The bushy haired Granger snorted then turned her head away. "Chew, swallow then talk Weasley." She said. The boy swallowed then said, "Sorry, What I said was how you do like the school Shadow?"

Shadow sighed. This was Dumbles idea of a friend. "I'm called Shadow Walker. Only friends and family call me Shadow. You're not my family and I don't know you well enough to call you friend. As for your question… I don't. "

Several of the kids turned their attention to the two after Shadow gave that answer. Seamus Finnigan looked confused. "Why don't you like the school? Other than the greasy git we have for potions it's great."

Shadow looked around at the other students. All of them shared a confused look like they couldn't understand what wasn't to love about Hogwarts. "I was learning what I need to know at home. I didn't need to come here for that. I miss my family." Shadow had lost his appetite so he left the table and walked out of the room to wait for the next class to start.

When Dumbles showed up he found Shadow sitting with his back against the wall in the hall. "Harry, what are you doing out here? Is something wrong my boy?"

Shadow shook his head no. "Just a little homesick. Nothing major."

Dumbledore nodded "I understand. I talked to Kingsley and I am opening this room for your group every morning from 05:30 to 06:30 for you to all work out in. I was told that if you don't have time and a place to work in everyday then I might as well cancel that class. Kingsley said you were competent to lead morning exercises for the group on a daily basis. I am also going to talk to the school nurse about setting up a diet for your group. He informed me in no uncertain terms that what was served this morning was unacceptable for students involved in physical training." Albus smiled at the boy. "Now is there anything else you require to make this venture work?"

Shadow climbed to his feet. "Just hard work on the kids part."

With that the two of them went back into the room where Shadow sat through a long boring lecture on stuff he had learned when he was eight years old. After the lecture was over the Headmaster assigned a 12 inch essay on the differences between dark, gray and light magic. He then told them to take the next hour to get to know each other before lunch. "Oh, Professor Black and Nymphadora Tonks will be working with you all on magical dueling this afternoon." With that he left the room.

As soon as the headmaster left Shadow dashed out of the room and ran downstairs to Snapes office. He hoped the man was there cause he wasn't sure where else to look but he really needed to talk to him today. Luck was on his side as he knocked on the door and heard Snape yell, "Its open." Shadow opened the door and walked in expecting Snape to be alone but there was a younger red headed man sitting in the easy chair that Shadow had used last Tuesday when the two had talked.

"Umm, sorry professor, I didn't know you had company. I can try to come back later." Shadow said. He turned toward the door to leave feeling disappointed that his plan had not worked out when Snape stopped him.

"Actually Shadow your timing is very good. How much time do you have before you have to return?" Snape asked.

"This is scheduled free time then comes lunch so I don't have my next class till 12:30" Shadow said.

The redhead spoke for the first time. "I take it that this is the boy?" At Snapes nod he said. "Good, can we go to your private quarters? I want him to lie down and relax. It will make my work a little bit easier." He smiled at the boy. "My name is Bill Weasley and Severus wants me to look you over to try and identify some rather obscure magic that's been used on you."

Shadow glanced over to Snape who nodded. "Bill is the top curse breaker for Gringotts. He is also discreet and will not disclose what we learn here today to anyone without our permission. You can trust him Shadow."

"Ok, lets go then." Shadow started toward the door.

The other two men followed the youth out the door and Snape led them to his private apartments. Once inside he pointed to his bedroom. "Beds in there Bill. Do you need anything else? Can I help at all or do you just want me to stay out of the way?"

"Just wait here. Hopefully it won't take to long then we can eat lunch and I'll tell you two what I found." Bill had Shadow lie down on the bed and cast a spell on him to help him to relax then started to chant softly with his wand moving slowly over top of Shadows body. Shadow tried to stay awake but the spell and the soft chanting lured him into sleep.

When Shadow woke up he smelled food. Hungry he got up and followed his nose to the other room where a large lunch was laid out on a small table. "Good, you're up. I was just about to wake you. Are you hungry?" Snape asked him.

"Starved. I didn't eat much breakfast this morning. So what did you learn Mr. Weasley?" Shadow asked as he dished himself up a plate of food. He went to the couch and sat down to eat. Bill was seated on the love seat opposite him already eating a generous portion of food.

Bill swallowed his mouth full before he answered. You have a blood ward on you that forces you to do whatever the caster tells you to do. It's not set up in the usual way because it allows you to do what you want unless key words are used when you are given instructions. That's to make you think you are not being controlled. I would imagine the caster uses it sparingly to keep it a secret. The next one is even more devious and in some ways dangerous. It's a memory charm that slowly over a period of time will cause you to forget whatever memories the caster incorporated into the charm. There is no way I can tell you what memories you were told to forget but to give you an example… If I cast the charm on Professor Snape and told him to forget potions over a period of about two months he would forget everything he knows about potions and he would be unable to learn again because every time he learned something about potions he would forget. Once the memory is gone it cannot be restored with a counter spell. The last one we need to worry about is the blocks on your magical core. You have the magic available to you that most 14 to 15 year olds have. I can tell that your core is much bigger than that so you must feel kind of like you don't have any magic at all but you do. Its just not what you are use to." Bill chuckled, one last thing I found. "Your wand is jinxed so that it takes on a random basis anywhere from two to ten tried before the spell you are trying to do will work. I guess that is to make you think your doing the spell wrong or something."

Shadow sat there stunned with his fork raised half way to his mouth. Snape went pale at Bills words. "Can you remove them? He's had the memory charm on for a week now and it needs to go before it does permanent harm to him. Bill, can you remove that one at least?" Snape almost begged the younger man.

"Yeah I can. I need some stuff to do it but I can. It'll take about an hour though. Do we have the time today?" Snape looked at his watch and shook his head no. "Ok, how about tomorrow. Can you set up a time and place for me to work tomorrow Severus?"

Snape nodded. "Here in my rooms. I'll find an excuse to bring him here after he is finished with his play time outside. Your on guard for that aren't you Bill?"

"My father is but I can switch with him. What I'm going to do about the charm is switch the memories it is erasing. That way if Dumbledore checks the charm will still be in place. You two think up some things you don't mind forgetting for tomorrow. Oh…something like the price of tea in china would be a good example." Bill rubbed his eyes. "its going to be a long night tonight. I need to do some research and find out if I can switch the blood wards too. I don't want to do anything that will alert the headmaster to what we've done."

Bill smiled at Shadow and motioned for him to eat. With a start Shadow dropped the forkful of food he had been holding in his lap. Looking down at the mess his face got red with embarrassment. Shadow quickly put his hand down and scooped up the food and deposited it on the side of his plate. Looking up at the two men who sported identical grins at the embarrassed boy he muttered "Sorry." Then went back to eating his lunch.

The three finished their lunches talking about their interests till it was time for Shadow to leave for his next class. When Bill and Snape were alone once again Bill set aside his plate and said. "Severus, last Saturday I was called into the director of security's office for a meeting between myself Amelia Bones and Mr. Raveark. He has the two of us doing some checking on some things that involve Dumbledore. We're supposed to meet again next Saturday. I think you should come to that meeting." Severus leaned back on the couch and looked at the man. "I was the one that set up the meetings in the first place Bill."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 Memories Lost**

Shadow tried not to show it but the truth was he was scared down to his bones. What if something went wrong and Bill couldn't help him after all. What if he stayed trapped here forever and never got home. What if he forgot his home and never wanted to go back because this became home. What if he was forced into Dumbles plans and never even knew it…

Shadow entered the room of requirements to find a very upset Professor Black and an equally upset Dumbledore. Before he could do anything he was grabbed by the headmaster and shaken. Shadow tensed up then tried to relax before he did something to defend himself. "Where have you been young man?" Dumbledore almost spat in his face.

Shadow shut his eyes and leaned away from the man. "Lunch! I went to eat lunch and I practiced what we learned in DADA. What did I do wrong sir?" Opening his eyes he lowered his head in a submissive pose. "I remembered you don't want me to spend a lot of time with the other students yet so I left. Mr. Snape met me in the halls on my way back to your apartment and invited me for lunch and then he helped me practice some." Shadow raised his head so that he was looking at the headmaster. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong. It wasn't deliberate."

At Shadows words the grip on his shoulders slackened. Albus studied the boy's face for a few seconds before he nodded. "It's ok Harry. It was a misunderstanding on your part, that's all. I set up the free time in here so you could get to know these children. Become friends with them. I guess I wasn't clear in my instructions to you." A small smile crept across his face. "Let's avoid another misunderstanding now shall we? On Saturday you are to remain in this room till your lessons are finished for the day and your last free time is finished. Then you and the rest of the children will be dismissed for the day and at that time you will go directly back to OUR apartment. And it is ours you know. You live with me now."

"Yes sir, I understand now." Shadow said quietly.

Professor Black had been joined by a younger woman with neon green hair and a solemn looking man with gray streaked brown hair. The three adults had watched the teen being scolded by Albus, heard the explanations given for the transgression by Harry and watched forgiveness and understanding being handed back to the boy by Albus. What two of the watchers saw was a concerned guardian handling his charge with a little bit less calm than he should have but when you took in to account the worry the guardian had been subjected to it was understandable. That was also what the third person had seen but what he sensed was something totally different. What the third sensed was a power move on the old man's part and satisfaction at winning against the boy. From the boy he sensed fear, confusion, anger and even a developing hatred for the old man…

After the old man left Black introduced Shadow to Tonks first. He was told the young woman was an Auror with the Ministry of Magic. He was then introduced to Remus Lupen. "One of your father and mother's best friends. The four of us were inseparable before they died. If things had gone the way your parents had wanted I would have been your guardian and Remus would have been your honorary uncle." Black smiled, "Well, better late than never hummm?"

Shadow studied the man, Remus Lupen. Had he misread the schedule? Wasn't someone by the name…..wait a second…Moony? His eyes shot back down to the hand he had just shaken. His jaw dropped open. Werewolf. Had to be, that would explain the name Moony but why was he introduced as Lupen? Shadow looked directly into the werewolf's eyes. "Is it a secret then?" He asked. All three looked a bit surprised at the question till Shadow grabbed the man's hand and traced he unusual growth of hair there. "Is it a secret?" he asked again.

Understanding crossed all three adults faces. Remus shook his head no. "Not a secret really but I don't go around advertising it. Is it going to be a problem for you? I can ask the headmaster to replace me if it makes you uncomfortable."

Shadow shook his head no. "It doesn't bother me but you might want to talk to whoever made up my last schedule. Your name is listed as Moony, not Remus Lupen." Remus turned his head and raised one eyebrow at Professor Black whose face turned scarlet. "You and Ms. Tonks should also know that I never used a wand before I was brought here. I suck at casting with it so I won't be giving you much competition today. My spell repertoire includes only what I've learned this past week."

Shadow's words were prophetic. He got hit with so many spells, jinx's and curses that he lost count. Black had not taught him any shields yet and that twice damned jinxed wand he was trying to use was almost useless to him. If he had not been so agile he would have been taken out of the room on a stretcher, as it was he hit the floor so often that he was positive his ass was permanently bruised. Loosing in a magical duel was a new experience for Shadow. One he found he didn't like at all and loosing that many times in a row to people that were that inept was almost more than he could take. He had to stop himself from using physical means against his opponents after he grabbed Tonks wand and was dressed down for it by Black almost as often as he had to dodge spells. This whole class sucked!

After the humiliating experience was over he had to endure another hour and a half of free time with Dumbledore's suck-ups. He played two games of exploding snaps and one game of chess against the boy named Ron who sat in the corner and pouted after he lost to Shadow much to the delight of the twins Fred and George. Finally the time was up and he was released to return to his room.

Shadow spent the rest of the evening after he ate dinner making a list of what he would not mind forgetting then he went to bed early so he wouldn't have to spend much time with Dumbles.

* * *

The revelations of yesterday still had Shadow reeling when he stopped to think about them. What was he slowly forgetting? It had to be something Dumbledore thought was important. Something that he thought took away his control. About the only thing Shadow could put in that place was his family but he remembered them. He remembered everything about them. Didn't he? Would he even know? Maybe it was something like only trusting Dumbles but how would that fit in with my forgetting?

Shadow drew his knees up to his chest and rocked back and forth trying to figure out what was going on. He thought about the list he had made at the start of the week. If he was to update it now it would be something along the lines of yes he could trust Snape but no one else here in this twice damned school!

After giving it a moment of thought Shadow shrugged his shoulders. Why not? Shadow took out his list and a new piece of parchment and started to prepare a new list with the information he now had available to him.

1. The women who kidnapped me worked for Dumbles. The gun they shot me with shot a spell or dart or hex or something like that so that I would be out cold when they moved me here.

2. Dumbles said he had been in touch with Children's Protective Services. If that was true then it wasn't for my benefit so I need to find out what happened at that meeting and if he even met with them.

3. Dumbles says I'm not allowed to see my family yet because I'm in protective custody. He just wants to keep them away from me so I won't be influenced by them. DID HE GET SOME TYPE OF LEGAL CONTROL OVER ME?

4. In America the blood wards and the charm he used on me would be illegal, so would the block unless he really did manage to get declared my legal guardian and if he did he could only do something like that if I were in danger of loosing my control. Are they illegal here and if they are can I get him thrown in prison?

5. Was that family tree he showed me real? It could be a fake but he knew the last name of the people I thought were my natural mom and dad.

6. I need to find out more about this Voldermort guy. Dumbles said he was my enemy and so did Snape. I trust what Snape says but not Dumbles.

7. Mostly I need to find out why me? Why did Dumbles have me kidnapped in the first place? Having my parents killed by an evil wizard was no reason at all. There had to be something else there.

It all seemed to come down to Dumbles was Voldermort's enemy and both of them were Shadow's enemy. According to Snape Voldermort wanted to kill Shadow and Dumbles wanted to use Shadow. Truth be told Shadow wasn't sure which was worse. He WAS sure which one was more honest though.

All of the teachers here owed their loyalty to Dumbles but for all of that Snape was willing to help him. Dumbles was picking out students to be friends with so those were the ones he would be able to trust the least. What about Bill though? He said his last name was Weasley and that's the same last name as Ron, Ginny, Fred and George so that meant they were all family of some sort so how far could he really trust any of them.

God, all this going around in a circle was giving him a headache. Shadow decided to forget about it till he had another chance to talk privately with Mr. Snape. With that decision made he got up and showered and dressed before going out to the other room to eat breakfast. At least today he got to go outside even if it was on leading strings.

At about 08:50 Dumbledore escorted Shadow downstairs and to the front door where Professor Black and Mr. Weasley were waiting for him. "Remember gentlemen, he has to be back inside at 11:30 without fail. He is also not permitted to leave the grounds." Albus then turned to Shadow, "Harry, I had to do some very fast talking to Protective Services to get you this time outside for play. If you fail to follow the rules then they can and will cancel this privilege as fast as they granted it to you. Obey your guards at all times and do not fail to come back inside when your time is up. Do you understand?"

Shadow gave a curt nod. "I understand Sir."

Albus reached out and ruffled the boy's hair. "Good, keep that in mind and have fun this morning." He turned and walked back inside never noticing the glare the boy gave to his back when he left.

Shadow spent his free time walking around the grounds and then spent a little time flying on the broom Dumbles had bought for him before he was told he had to go back inside. During lunch he watched Mr. Snape talking to Dumbles. Snape had the essay Shadow had written for his class and if he wasn't mistaken it was covered with red ink and had all sorts of things written on it. Unless they were positive comments Shadow couldn't understand why they were there. He knew he did well on the paper because Martin had covered that stuff when Shadow was only about 9 years old and constant application had made the material almost automatic knowledge over the years. Snape and Dumbledore both got up and came over to where he was sitting at the Hufflepuff table. Shadow stood to greet them and find out what was going on. He didn't have long to wait.

"Mr. Potter, I understand that you were not trained in potions at your last school but you do need to understand the information that this essay was about. If you do not know the difference between chopped, diced and sliced you will end up making mistakes that are very easy to avoid in my class. I have spoken to the Headmaster and he has agreed that you should sit detention with me this afternoon. I will use the time to help you correct your essay and answer any questions you have. I expect to see you in my office directly after lunch." Snape said stiffly.

Shadow lowered his head to hide his grin. "Yes sir." Inspiration struck and before he could change his mind Shadow asked, "Sir, that base potion you said I would be making in class on Monday? Can you teach it to me this afternoon? Then I would have it ready to use in those other two potions in the next chapter."

"Potter, look at me when I'm talking to you, not your feet. Headmaster, is this acceptable to you? I would have him back to his room at about dinner time provided he is not as thick as most of my students are." Was the response Snape gave.

Albus smiled to see the boy stand up straight at the reprimand delivered by his potion master. "I don't see why not Severus. Just have him back in our apartment by 6:00 p.m. tonight." Albus looked down at the boy. "Finish your dinner Harry." And with that said both men walked away.

Shadow rushed to finish eating then practically ran to Snapes office. Snape was waiting for him and the two went to his private quarters where Bill Weasley was waiting for the both of them.

Bill had Shadow sit down on the sofa and lay back in a semi reclining position. He then asked the two what memories Shadow was going to sacrifice for the charm.

"You mentioned the price of tea in China. How specific do these memories have to be anyhow?" Snape asked. "Can we really use something like that?"

Bill smiled and shook his head no. "Sorry but unless he really does know the price of tea in China he can't forget it. I'm sorry Shadow but you will have to sacrifice some real memories that you have and they aren't reclaimable nor can you relearn them unless the charm is canceled which we don't want to do at this time. One good thing is you can choose memories from your subconscious. You just have to be very careful what you select there because the subconscious mind helps us sort our memories in real time."

With a subdued look on his face Shadow asked "How much do I have to give up Bill?"

Bill traded a troubled look with Severus. "I hate to say it but quite a bit."

Shadow nodded to show that he understood. All of my memories from before I met my adopted father. I don't have many that I remember but you said it will work on subconscious memories too? I read someplace that our subconscious mind remembers everything that ever happened to us. That will give you three full years to work with. Will that be enough?"

Bills face cleared and a smile spread. "It should be and if its not we can start erasing any novels you have read. You can reread them later after the charm is removed and it will be like the first time you read them."

"Do it then." Shadow said and closed his eyes.

Shadow lost track of time as he listened to the soft chanting. His mind began to drift and he almost fell asleep before the curse breaker was finished. Bill put his hand on Shadow's shoulder and shook the boy gently. "Finished" He said.

Severus called his house elf and asked for some hot chocolate for the three of them and over chocolate the three discussed what was going on. Snape took the opportunity to tell Shadow about the prophecy and what it meant to the boy.

"So do you think I am really this Harry Potter Mr. Snape." Shadow asked.

"You know you can call me Severus when we're alone Shadow and I've already told you about calling me Professor Snape when your around other students or professors but to answer your question…Yeah, remember when I did the spell check on you last Tuesday? The stemma –atis potion showed up on you so I think it's a very good chance that you are Harry Potter. The one thing that bothers me is the scar. You didn't have it when I visited your house. I think the Headmaster put it there with the cutting curse he used on you."

Bill looked at the scar for a few seconds before asking. "Why does it bother you aside from the fact that you think it was given deliberately by Dumbledore?"

Snape got up and walked over to his bookcase. He selected a thick volume titled The Heroes of Magic. Flipping through the last part of the book he selected the place he was interested in and handed the book to Bill. Stabbing his finger at a certain paragraph he instructed Bill to read that out loud.

Bill started reading. "After He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was thrown from his body by the rebounding curse baby Potter was left with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead above his right eyebrow…" Bill started to snicker "He forgot which side the scar was on didn't he."

"More importantly is if you are Potter what happened to your scar?" He asked Shadow. "I've always been told that those cannot be healed." Snape looked at Bill. "Do you know a way to heal or otherwise make vanish a curse scar?" Bill shook his head no. "Shadow, if I rebrew the stemma –atis will you take it so we can settle that question once and for all?"

"Yes, we need to know one way or the other." Shadow said.

_(Gringotts)_

"Griphook I need to see Raveark. I do not need nor do I want to see you. Now please inform him that I am here at once." Dumbledore demanded.

Griphook rolled his eyes. "As I have already explained to you Dumbledore. Raveark is very busy. If you would make an appointment then I am sure he would be willing to see you or better yet bring the heir in so that the two of them can settle their business and you will have no need to see Raveark at all. This after all does not directly concern you. It concerns Harry Potter and Raveark."

Dumbledore's eyes had long since lost all twinkles and now his face was taking on a decidedly ugly shade of purple in his rage and frustration. "And as **I **have explained repeatedly. Harry Potter is to fragile emotionally at this time to try and deal with anything like this. I am his guardian both physical and magical. I need to deal with this until he is stronger."

Griphook slamed his hands down on his desk. "This conversation is over until you produce the heir." Griphook then summoned several guards and instructed them to escort Dumbledore out of the bank and to not allow him back in until he either schedualed an appointment with Raveark or produced the Potter heir.

After the man was escorted out Raveark came in through the other door laughing. One look at his face and Griphook lost all semblance of control till both goblins were almost rolling on the floor in their mirth. "Did you see his face" Raveark gasped out. "I think if you would have pushed it a little bit harder we could have had him in a coronary."

"I know, I know. Priceless that." Griphook howled with laughter.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17. I Paid For That?**

_(Gringotts)  
_Amelia Bones, Bill Weasley, Severus Snape and Raveark all met in Raveark's private office.

Amelia Bones was looking in shock at the dour potions master and said "You're the one that set this whole thing up Sevrus? I always thought you were loyal to Dumbledore and the order of the phoenix to the point of being blind to anything or anyone else. When did you start to question what was going on?"

Raveark swept his gaze over Amelia and Bill, "You two need to hear Severus' story I think. If I am judging this correctly than you already know something of what's going on here besides what you were told two weeks ago, don't you Bill?" Bill Weasley nodded but didn't commit yet.

Snape sighed "I think it would be a bit easier to understand if I just show you what's going on. Raveark, you have a pensive don't you?" At Raveark's nod Snape asked if he could use it.

Raveark went to a bookshelf and took down the pensive and set it on his desk. With a sweeping motion of his hand he indicated that Snape should continue. Snape put his wand to his head and pulling it back slowly he withdrew a long silvery memory which he dropped in the bowl. He motioned toward the bowl and said "Please, join me." The other three gathered around the pensive and after Snape stirred the memory with his wand the four entered the memory.

_"How to explain…" Chandos sighed, "It's not so much the mistakes he made with my family, and it's his total disregard for human life and dignity. He puts on a good act but that's all it is…an act. He is willing to use you till you have nothing more to give and then when your used up its all 'For the Greater Good', His intentions were in the right place in the beginning but now I feel that he is as much a problem as Tom Riddle, perhaps even more so because how do you fight someone who is believed to be so good. Dumbledore lost his humanity long ago and I for one will not sacrifice my family to his great ego."_

_"I don't quite understand how you can believe that about Albus." Snape said._

_"Think about this for a moment. He knew that Tom was abused in the orphanage he lived in and yet he allowed it to continue. He knew that Rubeus Hagrid was innocent of opening the Chambers of Secrets and yet he allowed him to take the fall for it. He knew your parents were abusive and yet he never interfered with them. He knows that Fudge is corrupt and he allows him to continue to take bribes from known Death Eaters. Here's something else he does. He takes 10 of the student fees paid for tuition and uses it to fund his war. He has allowed three families that I know of to die just so he could get his hands on their Gringotts accounts to fund his war. A war that should have never happened and would have never happened if he would have helped a young boy who was being abused about 50 years ago. When you get home look up some of the laws that were passed after he was elected Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot and look to the changes in the curriculum of Hogwarts. He's crippling the wizarding community by allowing laws to be passed that limit the freedoms of half bloods and by refusing to allow the children to develop their true potential. It wasn't until he became headmaster that children had to buy their wands from Ollivander's which are monitored I might add and what's this shit about them not being allowed to practice over the summer? He puts out that the kids need to have a break from study but the truth of the matter is that as their powers develop they need to constantly use them or they don't become as strong as they have the potential to become. It antropies away without constant use during their magical growth years, and for normal children those years are from 10 to 16 years old." Chandos looked bitter as he finished his rant and Snape looked dumbfounded._

The four pulled back at the end of the memory and Severus put it back into his head. "That's where it all started. I was visiting Chandos Kane and his family in America when he told me that. When I got back to England I confronted Dumbledore with what I had been told. He Obliviated me or so he thought. I have a misdirection shield that my good friend here placed on me when I first started to spy for Dumbledore. It allows the ones doing the casting to think they can use several spells on me that they cannot. Legilimency and Obliviate are two of them. I can allow someone to think they are successful though. That's how I manage to stay in the good graces of both of the ones I call _master_. They both think they can get into my mind at will and rape any information they want from it. Of course neither knows the other is trying to use legilimency against me and I don't tell them."

Raveark added, "Both think they are masters of legilimency although the truth be told neither one is that good. They use only the type available to humans and disregard any other as unworthy. That is one of our strengths." He turned to Bill. "Do you have anything to report to us Bill?"

"Actually I do. I checked several members of the order of the phoenix and found that my father, Hester Jones, Nymphadora Tonks and Sirius Black all are memory charmed. In addition Black and my father both wear a charmed watch that promotes loyalty in thought and deed to the one that gifted them with the watches. Remus Lupin and my mom are not spelled in any way and as for Remus I don't know if he could even be charmed like the others are. His half blood state offers some natural protections from some types of magic. So far those are the only ones I've been able to check though." Bill reported.

"Do you have anything to report? Amelia?" Severus asked.

She just reached into her briefcase and pulled out a folder and handed it to Severus without a word. He opened it and briefly looked though the contents. With a quick nod of thanks Severus handed the folder to Raveark and asked him if he could make a copy of it for the rest of them so they could all study it at their leisure.

"What I'm about to tell you is not common knowledge yet although Bill knows some of this and Raveark knows even more of the story Amelia. Dumbledore has apparently found Harry Potter and he has control of the boy at this time. I'm not sure if he has somehow managed to obtain legal custody or not but he is saying that he was given custody to protect him from those who mean him harm. Included in the list of those who would do harm to the boy are the remainder of his blood relatives, Death eaters and of course Voldermort. He had the boy spelled with a blood ward and a really nasty memory charm. Albus also has most of the boy's magic bound and he has several different types of tracking charms on the boy. The memory charm on the boy was making him slowly forget something. At this time we aren't sure what Potter was being forced to forget but I have my suspicions that the charm was over a period of time forcing him to forget his adopted family. The blood ward forces him to obey any order given him by the caster. The magical bindings are of the standard sort used on children that have their magic go out of control abet stronger than most. Potter has a tremendous amount of magic at his disposal without the binding but right now his magic is reduced to what most normal 14 to 15 year olds have available to them. I know that binding a child's magic isn't illegal but that's only at the parents discretion or unless the child is a clear threat to himself or others around him. Albus of course has the authority from the school board to bind any students' magic in an emergency situation but Potter should not be in a place where Albus had the chance to make that choice. I know for a fact that his adopted parents did not and would not allow him to attend Hogwarts."

Amelia listened to Snapes report with a shocked expression on her face. "Oh that poor boy." She whispered when Shape finished talking. "How do you know these things Severus" she asked him.

"The first time I was alone with him at Hogwarts I cast a designo magicus (1) on him and found traces of a cutting curse, several petrificus totalus', the blood ward, a few sleep spells, the magical bindings, the memory charm, tracking spells, glammors and a monitoring spell. He had also recently taken a aquaticus acies potion(2), stemma -atis potion and one that I could not identify." Snape looked over at Bill before he continued. "Bill examined him a few days later and confirmed my findings."

Amelia nodded her head in understanding. "One thing puzzles me; you said apparently when you said that Dumbledore had Potter. Is there some doubt that the boy is Harry Potter?"

"Yes there is doubt. We only have Dumbledore's word that the stemma -atis potion produced a genealogical tree of the boy. For all we know the chart Dumbledore showed Potter was a fake." Snape shrugged his shoulders. "I am brewing another dose of stemma –atis so that we will know beyond any doubt if it is indeed The-Boy-Who-Lived."

Amelia shivered. "Did he agree to take the potion or are you going to force on him."

"I suggested it and Potter agrees that it's the only way to be sure of knowing who he really is. Amelia, I may make decisions based on the things I see going on around me that some may not like but I would not force him to do anything unless it was a mater of saving his life. I had nothing to with the boy being in trouble like this. Besides, I met him on my trip to America and I like him and I respect his family. I am trying to help him." Snape said.

Raveark studied Snape for a few seconds before he sighed and explained to the other two. "Severus and I have been friends for many years. He wears a mask to show to the rest of the world but to me he cannot hide his feelings." Severus scowled at the goblins words but remained silent. "After Severus told me what was going on I froze the Potter accounts and sent a letter to Dumbledore demanding he produce this supposed Potter heir so I can test him to find out if he is truly the Potter he claimed to be. Dumbledore was in this morning trying to see me to discuss what I had done. My assistant refused him admittance on the grounds that he did not have an appointment with me. He strongly suggested that he either produce the heir or make an appointment and then he had the guards throw him out."

"Priceless" Amelia laughed. "And you can get away with it too." She said as she smiled at Raveark.

With a smirk Raveark bowed to Amelia. "We goblins take great delight in causing trouble for pompous wizards that think they are above the law."

Raveark dismissed the three conspirators with instructions to meet back here again next Sunday unless something happened that they all needed to know before that time "In which case you can inform any of us and we will make sure the others find out as soon as possible"

* * *

On Monday evening Shadow went to his remedial potions lessons and was pleasantly surprised to be given a packet that contained several letters from his family. He tore open the packet and eagerly read the letters. "My family misses me and my father is out looking for me." Shadow explained to Snape. "It says here that dad left the same day I did. Mom also says that Ice is doing o.k. with his lessons but I'm the best at teaching him about control for his elementals. Mom also says that they gave my staff to someone named Raveark at Gringotts so that it will be safe and close by for when I need it. She says I'm to place my trust in you and no one else here."

Snape scowled at Shadows rambling. "I too received a letter from your family. They are leaving messages for Chandos in places they think he might check in his search for you. I hope they catch up to him before he does something that gets himself into trouble. He doesn't know that the headmaster is engaged in a power struggle and is using you to try to solidify his power base."

At the mention of the headmaster Shadow grinned. "So what's up with Dumbles anyway? He was in a bad mood yesterday afternoon and today. Every time he sees me he scowls at me and looks like he wants to kill someone. Did I do something to upset him?" Shadow kept his fingers crossed in the hopes that the answer would be in the affirmative. He really wanted to do something that upset the headmaster and if it was something that couldn't cause him more trouble than that was even better.

Snape snickered. "Apparently the headmaster got a letter from Gringotts on Saturday and yesterday he paid them a visit or at least he tried to pay them a visit. They froze the Potter accounts till they can confirm or deny the identity of the one claiming to be Harry Potter. They are demanding to see you in person and privately to determine if you are who you claim to be. The headmaster is somewhat opposed to that idea. He doesn't want you outside of the school grounds and most definitely does not want you away from his control in such a situation. If something goes wrong then he would have to do some damage control that he is not expecting to do at this time." His face turned serious. "Shadow, I think he is going to have to take you there but he won't do it unless he is sure you will do exactly what he wants you to do. Please be careful Shadow. I don't know what he will do but you know he is very dangerous."

Shadow looked troubled. "I don't understand what you mean by Potter accounts. I'm not even sure what Gringotts is. I kinda thought it was a person but now I'm guessing it's a bank or credit union or something like that but you said accounts, plural. Does this mean I have more than one and if I do where did they come from and why would it be necessary to freeze them?"

"So far as I know there would be your student trust fund and a family vault holding your family trust. The Potters were a fairly wealthy family before they died and you are the only heir." Snape explained. "Freezing them would insure that an imposter did not gain access to those vaults so they would want to confirm your identity before they allowed you access to any monies or material things in them."

"What I don't understand is why it would matter to him if my accounts were frozen. It's not like he would have anything to do with them anyhow." Shadow said.

Snape sighed and shook his head no. "I'm sorry Shadow but from what we know right now your parents appointed Dumbledore to be their financial advisor before their deaths. He has been removing monies all along and investing them in a dummy business to finance his war against Voldermort also Gringotts has allowed him to withdraw monies from your trust fund to finance the search for you. They kept fairly close tabs on how much he took out and he had to give them a statement of what the monies was spent on."

Shadow looked stunned. "Fuck, I paid for my own kidnapping." He started laughing, "This really sucks. I paid for my own fucking kidnapping." He put his head in his hands and leaned over his knees. "Tracy is gonna make me eat a whole bar of soap. I'm turning into such a trash mouth lately." He laughed again. "What else am I paying for here?"

Snape laughed as well, "I rather think the extenuating circumstances that surround you at this time will give you some latitude in the trash mouth department. As for what else your paying for that would be your school tuition here and for your upkeep. The law allows the physical guardian to withdrawal a set amount from a family or trust fund to take care of the minor child"

"So I paid for these robes and for a broom that's not nearly as good as the one I own at home. I'm also paying for the chance to be educated in stuff I already know. Please go on, this just keeps getting better and better." Shadow said. "If he's allowed to take money from my accounts does that mean that he is my physical guardian? How could he do that? My father **did **adopt me you know. I've seen the paperwork so I know it was done legally."

"I don't know for sure but I think he claimed that your father kidnapped you from your aunt and uncle's care when you were three years old. If he claimed that your father lied on the adoption papers then the adoption would not be legal. One clear advantage you do have is that you are fourteen years old and that means you can testify as to weather you are in physical danger from Chandos and Company. You also should have some say as to who you wish to live with." Snape got up and walked over to a shelf and took down a small vile of potion and a small piece of parchment. "I made another dose of stemma –atis for you. I know you were fed some before when you were unconscious but we have no way of knowing if the chart you were shown was really the result of the potion or a fake. We are assuming that you are Harry Potter but we don't really KNOW yet. Will you take the potion so we can find out for sure?"

Shadow reached out his hand and took the potion from Snape. "What do I have to do, just drink it?"

"It needs the blood of the person who uses the potion. It makes the genealogical tree with your blood so you need to make a small cut in the palms of your hands and then set them close to the edge of the parchment. The tree will grow out of the blood." Snape explained

Shadow looked at the small piece of parchment. "The one Dumbles showed me was really big. About 5 times the size of that one."

"We don't need that much detail to find out the truth Shadow. The potion will keep working till the cuts stop bleeding or the parchment is full or your palms are removed from the parchment. We only need your parent's names. This is big enough for that." Snape handed the parchment to the boy. "Bring it over to the desk and we can get started."

Shadow laid the parchment down on the desk and Snape applied a sticking charm to it to prevent it from moving. He then took a small dagger from his drawer and motioned to Shadow. "Drink the potion then hold out your palms." Shadow did and Snape made two shallow cuts in the boy's palms. "Place your palms on the edge of the parchment" Which Shadow did. The two watched as the writing began to appear on the parchment. Once the names Harry James Potter son of Lilly Rose Potter nee Evens and James Montgomery Potter appeared Snape removed Shadows palms from the parchment and healed the cuts on the boy's palms. "No doubt about it now."

Shadow just kept his head bowed as he felt tears gather in his eyes. He would not cry, he would not! Shadow felt Snapes hands on his shoulders, the gentle squeeze offered in comfort as he was directed back to the chairs they had sat in before.

Snape and Shadow sat back down and Snape raised Shadows head so the two were looking eye to eye. "Look Shadow, Raveark and I are working together along with Bill Weasley and a woman named Amelia Bones to try to figure out exactly what Dumbledore is doing. I know he is doing things that are illegal but we need solid proof that will stand up in a court of law that favors him. He is a master of illusion and misdirection. He can take the truth and twist it to suit his own purpose. He is perceived as the guardian of the light side, the keeper of all things good. That's what we need to overcome. That is what we are fighting. You need to understand exactly what we are dealing with so that you don't make any mistakes. If you do then you will suffer the consequences. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that he can get legal guardianship over you as well as control of your money. He may have already done it as a matter of fact. If that happens then he can move you to another location, isolate you even more than you are now. He can cast more spells on you and more wards on you and we would have no legal recourse at all."

"You make it sound so hopeless." Shadow rubbed his eyes tiredly. "What do I do now?"

Snape looked at his watch. "Now you go back to your room and get a good night sleep. Keep all of what we talked about confidential till we can do something about it and Shadow, we will I promise you, we will do something. We just need time to gather information."

Shadow nodded and said goodnight then went back to his room to do his homework and get ready for bed.

_(Ministry of Magic)  
_If it weren't for the file being missing no one would have know that a break-in had occurred at all. As it were, why would someone go to the trouble to retrieve the floo addresses of the people who worked for Wizarding Children's Services? It wasn't as if that information were confidential or anything. Still it was disturbing…

_(Riddle Manor)  
_Voldermort had several Death Eaters out looking for information on Aurors. He wanted at least three recruited to his cause as soon as possible.

With a smile he walked over to his pet and stood looking down at him. "Lucius tell me what you know about the woman called Dolores Umbridge."

Malfoy dropped the scrub brush back into the bucket of water and kissed his masters robes before telling him. "Master, she is Fudge's personal assistant. She also acts as a go between the press and Fudge. She is much more intelligent than Fudge and she hates half breed mixes. She works on legislations to restrict the movements of the half breeds and is trying to pass laws that will make it mandatory to arrest any half breed that is unemployed and remains that way for more than two months. She also spearheaded the kill laws that were passed for dangerous sentient creatures."

Voldermort lowered himself into a crouch so he could face Lucius face to face. Softly he said as he slowly stroked Lucius face, "Your failures are so numerous my pet. You disappoint me at every turn but I still carry a soft spot in my heart for you which is why I have allowed you to live till now." He reached behind Malfoys neck and with a quick burst of power loosed the collar from around the man's neck. "Go and bring Umbridge to me my pet. I want her as one of my own. You have five hours to bring her. If you fail in this it will be the last time you fail me. Do you understand?"

Shaking, Malfoy again kissed his masters hem. "I will not fail you this time my Master."

With that Voldermort stood. "See that you don't now go."

Malfoy got to his feet and almost ran out of the manor beyond the wards and with a pop was gone.

* * *

(1) designo magicus magical trace

(2) aquaticus acies watery eyes


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18 Gringotts and Punishments**

_(Lucius and Umbridge)_

Lucius Malfoy apperated to his manor before he went to the ministry of magic. Although it was dangerous to delay in his mission he had to come up with a fool proof plan to get the Umbridge woman for his master. If he made a mistake he had the feeling that he would not live for another day and that was so unfair. How could he have known that his master would want his son for anything. The boy had always seemed so worthless. Sentimental and weak willed, the boy didn't deserve the title of Malfoy but his master had thought the boy could be turned to the right side in this conflict. Lucius only wished the boy really had died and then he would not be dealing with his master's displeasure now. Well, perhaps Narcissa would get with child right away then he could present his master with a replacement for the boy.

When Lucius reached his manor he went straight to his library to do some hurried research on the kill laws that Umbridge had spearheaded. He needed to make her think that they were on the same side so that she would not fight taking the mark if that was what his master wanted.

After Lucius thought he had enough information he apperated to the Ministry of Magic and requested a meeting with Deloris Umbridge. He took the woman to lunch and much to his surprise Lucius actually found her to be well informed on the problems facing the wizarding world due to the influx of muggleborns and half bloods. It wasn't too hard to convince her to meet with his master and within the space of a few hours Voldermort had a new supporter.

Voldermort wanted her to arrange a meeting with Fudge. The two agreed that the man was a fool but he was a fool with power. Unfortunately Fudge was inclined to turn to Voldermorts biggest hindrance to power for advice and information. What Voldermort needed to do was to work on the insecurities that Fudge had about his own place in the wizarding world, perhaps let him know about the fraud that Dumbledore was perpetrating on everyone by endorsing a false Potter. If Fudge learned that the boy who had been for so long called the Hope Of The Wizarding World was dead and that Dumbledore had an imposter that he was trying to pass of as the real thing then he could drive a wedge between the two of them and thus weaken the ties between them. Voldermort desperately needed those ties weakened to further his plans.

After Deloris left to start on her mission Voldermort for the first time since his resurrection told Lucius he was pleased with him.

_(Hogwarts)_

Wednesday and that meant dueling after classes were over. Shadow hoped that Lupen would be there tonight because out of all of them he liked him, Bill and Kingsley the best and Kingsley and Bill weren't scheduled for Wednesday nights. When Shadow studied him he thought that Lupen might know a little bit more about what was going on then he let on. He thought about talking to Snape about his suspicions. Well, maybe on Monday he would.

Dumbles had been buzzing around Shadow every chance he got this week too. Shadow was afraid that he was watching for something specific and if he was then that could become a problem because Shadow had no idea what it could be. Dumbles acted tense and fidgety and kept asking him questions like, "How are classes going my boy?" or "How are you getting along with your friends son?" (Yuck, gag… as if I could ever be his boy or his son). He had also had his (friends) make a point to sit next to him in all of his classes so far this week and at lunch the Weasley boy kept trying to get him to sit with him. So far Shadow had put him off but today Dumbles had told him that he wasn't restricted by house because he was a member of two so he could sit with his "Good friend Ron." He had also informed him that his friends were going to spend time with him this Sunday when he was allowed outside. How did he put it? "I am allowing you to extend you play time on Sunday so that you and your friends can play a game of quidditch." Whatever the hell that was…Most likely something else to make him look like a fool.

After lunch Dumbledore cornered Shadow in the great hall. "I need to speak to you son. Please accompany me to my office."

Shadow gave a quick nod and said "Yes sir." Then fell in beside Dumbledore. The two made their way up to the headmaster's office and Dumbledore sat in the chair behind his desk after motioning for Shadow to sit in the chair in front of it.

"Lemmon drop?" Shadow gave a quick shake of his head. "Would you like some tea then?" Again Shadow shook his head no. After the headmaster popped a piece of candy in his mouth he cleared his throat and started speaking. "Harry, we have a few minor problems we need to take care of before they grow into large problems. Although I would rather keep you here in the school to insure your safety I need to take you to Gringotts this afternoon to introduce you to your account manager. Pending verification of your identity the goblins have froze your accounts. Your financial advisor is concerned that if this is not remedied you will loose money because he cannot make any investments in your name. I would also like to set you up with an allowance when we are there. You cannot go to Hogsmead on weekends for obvious reasons but you can be allowed to make mail order purchases with some supervision. Also your friends would be more than happy to purchase any sweets you may want when they go to town." Dumbledore nodded as if Shadow had verbally agreed with him. "Yes, I believe that would be a good idea. What would you say to 10 galleons a week for an allowance son?"

Inside Shadow was fuming but he hid it well. "Sir, I don't know what Gringotts is and I don't know what you're talking about when you said my accounts. At home we use dollars so I don't know what a galleon is either. I kind of thought that the Britts used pences or pounds or something like that."

Shadow must have answered correctly because if anything Albus' grin grew. "Not to worry my boy. I have plenty of time to instruct you in wizarding finances. As for what accounts I was referring to…well, its no secret that your family left you some money. Enough to pay for your education and have a tidy sum left over after you leave school."

Dumbledore got up from his chair and walked around the desk. He stopped in front of Shadow and reached down and cupped Shadows chin. Raising the boy's head so the two were looking eye to eye Dumbledore said quietly "Understand me, when we get to Gringotts you will request that I stay with you at all times. Understand me; you will not sign anything without my permission. Understand me; you will only give them enough information so that they can verify who you are."

Dumbledore released Shadows chin and the boy shook his head as if coming out of a dream. "What did you say sir" he asked. He felt like his head was stuffed with cotton wool again. Something he had not felt since he woke up here. Dumbledore started talking again. Something about going to Gringotts this afternoon but Shadow scarcely listened. Something had happened. Something important but Shadow could not to save his life figure out what.

Dumbledore dismissed the boy to go to his class after giving him a note explaining why he would be late and Shadow left.

After Harry had left the room Albus picked up the report that he had face down on his desk. Scanning it once again the twinkle left his eyes. Chandos had visited two of the senior officers from Children's Services yesterday. It was time to implement the plan to remove that problem in a more permanent manor.

Albus went to the fireplace and called Jonathan Felis. When the man answered the floo Albus said. "The man who kidnapped Harry from his aunt and uncle is named Chandos Kane. He has been living in America for the past several years but he is back now looking for the child. I am sincerely concerned that he might find the boy and take him again. If he does I fear for the boy's life."

"Kane?" Felis asked. "He visited two of our senior staff this week and asked some questions. Nothing about Harry Potter though. He asked about adoption laws here in Briton if I recall rightly."

"That must be some sort of a smoke screen. I wonder if either has been memory charmed recently. You may need to have all of your staff checked to insure that no one was compromised in such a manor." Albus sighed. "Once Chandos was a friend. I can only wonder if he has gone over to the dark side."

"Memory charmed…you mean Obliviated?" Felis's face took on an angry expression. "How dare he do something like that! It is illegal to tamper with a government official in such a manor." Felis started to pull back from the fireplace. "Excuse me Albus but you are correct I need to have the staff…" Albus interrupted him at that moment

"Jonathan my friend. Who will check you to see if you were the one obliviated?" Felis shut his mouth with a snap. "If you will come into my office I will do the honors and if you have been I will try to restore your memories." Albus soothed the agitated man.

With a decisive nod Felis ordered "Move back" and stepped through the fireplace.

Albus indicated same chair that Shadow had sat on and after Felis sat down he pulled his wand. "Relax my friend. Chandos was an expert at memory charms but I should be able to restore enough for you to get an idea of whatever was tampered with if he did indeed obliviate you." With a softly incanted legilimency spell Albus entered the man's mind and planted some shadowy memories of being questioned by Chandos about Harry Potter. After he was finished he pulled back from Felis mind and sighed. "It is as I feared. You were questioned by Chandos."

Felis dropped his head into his hands. "I remember. He asked me about Harry. He also said he would be back later." Felis narrowed his eyes as he raised his head and glared at the headmaster. "I know you did not want to go this route but I am pressing charges against the man for tampering with a government official and for child abuse. When he's caught I want him to stand trial and go to prison. It's what he deserves. Will you testify?"

Albus wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh that I should have lived to see this day. One of my own turning out so badly. Yes, I will testify on your behalf. We must see that Harry is protected from such evil at all cost."

The two floo'd to the department of magical law enforcement and provided pensive memories of Harry's (treatment) at the hands of Chandos Kane and a pensive memory of the obliviated shadow memory of Chandos questioning Felis about Harry's location. It was enough to incite the Aurors into a rage at the depths that the former Auror had sunk to. Felis was provided with a charmed relic to summon aurors at a moments notice if Chandos should return to see him again and three aurors were assigned guard duty outside of the Hogwarts grounds to watch for any attempt of Chandos to infiltrate the school grounds. The orders issued to all Aurors was that if Chandos Kane was taken he was to be transported directly to Azaskaban for holding till he came to trial.

_(Later that same day)_

After Shadow's last class was over Albus collected him and the two floo'ed to Gringotts for their appointment with Senior Manager Raveark.

Albus held the boy's hand as he went up to the receptionist desk. "We have an appointment with Raveark this afternoon." He told the goblin sitting at the desk. "It would be under the names Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore."

The two were escorted to Raveark's office and were offered seats.

Shadow stared at the goblin nervously for a few seconds before he smiled and said "Hi, sorry about staring but I've never seen a goblin before."

Raveark nodded his head in understanding before he asked. "Are you Harry Potter?" The boy nodded. "I will need proof other than your word."

Albus presented the genealogy chart that he had brought with them. "This was made with a stemma –atis potion and it clearly shows that the boy is indeed the son of James and Lilly Potter."

Raveark waved his hand dismissively. "Unless I was to witness the chart being made I could not accept it as proof of his identity. Do you have another potion that we can give the boy at this time?"

Albus scowled at the goblin. "No we do not have another potion that we can administer at this time." He said somewhat sarcastically.

"Then there are two easy ways to prove his identity. The first is he puts on the family signet ring. Of course he is a bit young to claim head of house rights but if the magic accepts him then it is uncontroversial proof of his identity. Raveark smiled at the boy. "if you put on the family signet ring and it accepts you then you will at that moment become an adult with all that entails."

Albus slammed his hand down on the desk. "I refuse to allow that. Find another way."

Shadow jumped at the noise and the near shout from the headmaster. Raveark just grinned. "The next way would be to take him to his family vault and have him try to enter. If the wards accept him then he is the heir."

Albus stood. "Let's go and get this over with then."

Raveark narrowed his eyes at the man. "The boy should not be accompanied by you Mr. Dumbledore. It is not your place."

Before Albus could form an answer Shadow interrupted. "No. I need him with me at all times." Raveark looked at the boy and was surprised at the almost panicked expression on his face.

"Of course he can accompany you." Raveark said soothingly. "I'll have Griphook take the two of you down and when you return you can fill out the paperwork to claim your inheritance."

Shadow nodded hesitantly in acceptance. "Mr. Dumbledore can look over any paperwork you have for me and tell me what I should sign."

With a calming demeanor Raveark nodded. "It will be as you wish." He called Griphook and told him. "Please escort these two down to the Potter family vault but before you do I want you to make sure the curse breaker is still working on the case we gave him before. Tell him I want him to examine the latest relic that we came into possession of as soon as possible then report directly to me." Raveark turned to Albus and Shadow. "I am sorry for this interruption but the case I am referring to is something we have been working on for several weeks. We just received a new artifact today and I need to know if it's been tampered with. The delay will be minimal I assure you."

With a regal nod of his head Albus gave his permission for the delay.

The three of them left the office and when the reached the lobby Griphook wrote a quick note and sent one of the runners to find curse breaker Weasley. Within a few moments Bill Weasley showed up. Griphook passed the note to the man and told him to make haste. "Raveark wants this information as soon as possible."

Bill grinned at Albus and Shadow. "Hi, didn't expect to see the two of you here." He said.

"Now Mr Weasley." Griphook said sternly.

With another grin Bill said "Gotta run. See you two later." And before either man could form an answer the curse breaker ran off clutching the note.

Griphook took the two to a cart that resembled an old mine cart and after the three entered the cart sped off. Twisting and turning, uphill and down the ride closely resembled a rollercoaster ride. Shadow was disappointed when it ended although Albus looked slightly green.

The three got out of the cart and stood on the walkway in front of a round stone slab. Griphook pointed to the hand shaped indentation about chest level with the boy and told him to place his hand there. "If the wards accept you then the door will open for you." He explained.

Shadow placed his hand in the indicated spot and with a yank he was jerked inside of the vault.

In a panic he screamed for Albus before something grabbed him and turned him toward the wall. Shadow felt something cold fall on his head and with a moan he sank to his knees. Arms encircled him and whoever was behind him began to rock soothingly but Shadow would not be calmed. He wanted, no, he needed Albus. Shadow started to cry and fight the arms holding him. He had to get back to Albus. He just had to now! A voice whispered in his ear. "What do you need Shadow?" With a sob Shadow answered. "Dumbledore, I need him. I need to be with him. Please let me go." Shadow felt his world growing black. He was lifted to his feet and pushed at the door he had been pulled through.

Shadow fell to his hands and knees on the other side of the door. He could hear Albus yelling at something or someone but he felt too weak to raise his head to see what was going on. The yelling stopped as the two standing there became aware that he had returned. Albus knelt down in front of the boy and gathered him close and began rocking him.

He raised Shadows tear filled eyes so the boy was looking directly at him. "Harry, understand me. This was not your fault. Understand me, you are ok."

With a shudder Shadow closed his eyes and leaned into the safety the headmasters arms offered him.

After Shadow had control of himself the three got back into the cart and rode it back to the surface. Griphook escorted the two back to Ravearks office and confirmed that the boy had entered the vault without any hindrance. He was indeed the Potter heir.

Raveark looked at the boy with concern. "Is he alright?" he asked Albus.

Albus was still upset at having been separated from Harry. "No he is not alright. He depends on me for safety and your actions had us separated for almost two minutes. Do you not understand the evil that is after this boy? He is only safe at Hogwarts or when he is with me. What papers do you need him to sign? I want to get him home as soon as possible." Albus snapped.

Raveark made a calming motion with his hands. "I will order a thousand galleons released to you this afternoon for his care. I can have the paperwork delivered to Hogwarts tomorrow for him to go over. He does not look to be in calm enough state to understand what he needs to understand before he signs them. Will that be acceptable?" Raveark asked.

Albus was still rubbing the boy's back in a soothing manor. "I think that would be best."

Raveark gave the two of them some floo powder and with a quick yell the two departed from the office fireplace.

After the two were gone Bill Weasley stormed into the office. Raveark nodded when he saw the rage stamped across the man's face. "He was being punished because he broke the compulsion of the blood ward that son of a bitch placed on him. As soon as I pulled him into the vault he went into a full blown panic attack and I couldn't do anything with him except send him back to that bastard."

Raveark asked, "How does the ward work Bill?"

Bill blew out a gust of air and raised his eyes to the ceiling. "It got a password associated with it. The boy needed to get back to Dumbledore. It was a real physical need. We need to know what the old man said to the boy after I pushed him back through the door. I think that Dumbledore would need to say the password to stop the punishment but I don't know for sure."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19 The Mage Awakes**

_(Hogwarts)_

The next day Bill Weasley came to the school to drop off a file from Gringotts with paperwork pertaining to the Potter accounts. He had statements for the trust fund set up by Harry's parents for any educational and cost of living expenses incurred by their son during his growing years as well as an itemized list of the content of the three vaults that Harry would inherit when he reached his majority. Bill also had a copy of the one document that Albus did not want anyone else to see ever. A copy of the Potter will. More specifically an unaltered copy of that will. The one that clearly stated that Attorney Warren held executive control of the Potter estate till the minor child Harry Potter reached his 15th birthday at which time he was to be given lessons by someone appointed by Mr. Warren in wizarding finances so that when the minor child Harry Potter reached his majority he would be able to take over the care of his own inheritance. This was same will that stated that the child Harry Potter was to be given over to the guardianship of his Godfather Sirius Black and/or his Godmother Alice Longbottom should his parents become unable to raise their son due to either death or disability.

Albus was livid. How had Gringotts gotten a copy of that thing? He was very sure that he had the original and any copies of the original had been altered by himself personally before anyone else had seen it. Where then did this copy come from? Albus worked at controlling his temper as he went through the file paper by paper till he got to the last official document. An order to investigate the tampering of the Potter Last Will and Testament.

No. A thousand times no. Albus would not allow all of his plans to crumble because some shifty goblin found a copy of the original will. Albus began to make plans. Something to circumvent this. Something to make it seem like a goblin or perhaps a death eater was trying to get his hands on the Potter estate. If Albus was very careful he could turn it into a stronger case for himself claiming custody of the boy to protect not only the boy's health from those who would see him dead but also to protect an innocent child's inheritance from those who would exploit him.

In the middle of his plotting Albus received a firecall from Jonathan Felis, "Albus, we got him. The ruddy bastard had the nerve to waltz into my office asking to see me. I called the Aurors and they came and picked him up. He's in a holding cell in Azaskaban even as we speak."

Thinking fast Albus asked "Has anyone else been advised of this development yet?"

"No, I don't think so. Why? Do we need to tell someone? Does he have any relatives that need to be informed of his arrest?" Felis asked.

"No" soothed Albus. "To my knowledge the man has no family at all."

"Good because I think he is being kept in solitary confinement because of the nature of his crimes. I know the Aurors don't want him to have any contact with the outside world till the trial. Something about protecting him from harm if you can believe that load of crap."

Albus smiled. "They would call it protective custody because child abusers are considered the lowest of the low in the criminal world and for the child that was abused by this man to be Harry Potter…well, if he weren't protected he might not live long enough to come to trial."

"And that would be a bad thing?" Felis asked amazed. If the man was killed by another inmate it would just save the government some money in housing an animal was Felis' firm belief.

"Prohaps not a bad thing but certainly an illegal thing." Albus answered. "Jonathan, I need to go. I have some things I need to take care of now but do keep me advised of any new developments in this case won't you my dear boy?"

"Of course headmaster, of course." With that Felis broke the connection.

Albus sat back in his chair and contemplated this new development. How could he use this to his best advantage?

He began to smile as he made plans never even realizing that he had finally made the one mistake that would lead directly to his downfall. He had endangered the father of a protective, loyal and powerful young elemental mage.

_(Gringotts later that same day) _

"I'm assuming that this report is accurate." Snape said.

"He was processed through about three hours ago. From what information we can gather they plan on leaving him in prison for a few months before they bring him to trial. They want him sufficiently softened by the dementors before he comes to trial." Raveark said.

"Has his wife been notified yet? Does Madam Bones know what's going on here?" Snape dropped the arrest report back on Raveark's desk. "We can't just let him sit there. You know what the dementors can do to a human especially if they are directed to pay close attention to a prisoner. He could be insane before he even comes to trial."

"Ms. Bones was the one that got me a copy of the arrest report. Apparently she has been told to keep her hands off this case by the Prime Minister himself. I have the floo address of the Kane family but I have not contacted them yet. I thought it would be better if a human did that. Some humans don't take well to goblins and I'm not sure if the Kanes are one of those groups of people or not." Raveark squared up the pile of paperwork on his desk and asked quietly, "What about the boy Severus? Do we let him know about his father?"

"I don't know. He has so much that he is trying to deal with at this point that I am fearful of adding anything else to his plate. You said the Bill thinks he knows the password Dumbledore used on the blood ward? Can he break it then?"

Raveark shook his head no but he gave an evil grin to his friend. "Break…no, redirect it? Now that's another story. Bill thinks he can change the key phrase into something else which would render the blood ward ineffective." Raveark started to laugh. "We were trying to come up with another key phrase to activate the blood ward and we were thinking of something along the lines of 'I am the evil brother of a goat fucker.' I somehow don't think our headmaster would ever accidentally stumble across that new phrase do you?"

Snape started laughing. After he regained control of himself he said "I'll call LeAnn now. She is up-to-date on what's been going on here with her son isn't she?"

At Raveark's nod Snape walked over to the fireplace and threw in a handful of floo powder and called for the Kane house. Jonaus answered a few seconds later and after exchanging pleasantries with Snape he called the rest of the adults into the room so they could all hear this latest update. Snape explained about Chandos being arrested and being held in Azaskaban till his trial. He also explained about how Bill thought he could change the control phrase for the blood ward that Dumbledore had used on her son.

"I guess what I need to know now is what you want us to do to help in this situation." Snape said. "You know you can count on us to do whatever we can to get Chandos out of prison. Do you want us to hire a barrister for him?"

LeAnn looked thoughtful for a moment before she answered. "Not yet Severus. I'm bringing my family over there tomorrow. This has gone on long enough and its time to end it. If you can arrange a meeting with my son for me I would be grateful. I'll need to meet with your curse breaker first though. Can you do that for me?" Snape nodded his head yes.

Raveark said, "This small group that we have gathered together to try and bring down Dumbledore includes me, another goblin named Griphook, Bill Weasley our curse breaker, Amelia Bones head of magical law enforcement and Severus Snape who you of course know already. Would you like to have all of us at this meeting or just Mr. Weasley?"

"Can you arrange for everyone to be present? I don't want to tip our hand to anyone else just yet." She said.

"If we meet before the first class of the d…Wait. Severus, can you get some time off from your classes. Prohaps tell Dumbledore that Voldermort called you for a meeting?" At Snapes nod Raveark said "Good, if we work it just right we can use that as an excuse to get you alone with your son too."

Snape raised his eyebrow in question. "Would you care to explain how we can do that?"

"Simple, I sent a copy of the unaltered Potter will to Dumbledore today. It gave me an excuse to keep the freeze on the vaults for the time being. You can return from your 'meeting' with information that a death eater in the ministry of magic gave Gringotts the copy of the will and that as a courtesy we sent him a copy to inform him of our intent to investigate. Tell him that we informed the man that we were not convinced that the copy was the original at all. That we have seen another copy of the will and it does not say the same thing at all. Dumbledore will have to come here to try to convince us that the copy we sent him is the fake and the copy he supplied is the real one. Since he doesn't know that we have the original will and everything else is nothing but a copy he will think that we are dealing with two copies and he still holds the original." Raveark smirked. "I'll see him at lunch time. That gives you an hour and a half for a family meeting."

LeAnn asked, "Will that work Severus?"

"Yes, I believe it will" Snape said.

_(Ministry of Magic, Prime Ministers Office same day)_

Umbridge smiled at Minister Fudge and said in a simpering little girl voice. "Cornelius, have you heard any rumors about Dumbledore finding the Potter heir?"

With a self important smirk on his face Fudge nodded. "Of course my dear. I was informed right away."

"I knew he had to have told you. After all you will want to host something to welcome a returning hero back into our fold. Perhaps a dinner party and a press conference? It would do wonders for your image with the voters to have you on good terms with the Hero of the wizarding world. We can arrange for some pictures in the paper of you welcoming back a hero." Umbridge opened the book she had on her lap and stabbed her finger at a sentence written there. "If you stand behind the boy when the picture is taken it will show the famous scar above his right eyebrow." She looked up from the book and smirked. "That's what it says right here in Wizarding Hero's so everyone who sees the Prophet that day will know who they are looking at. The scar is above his right eyebrow."

"Yes, it would be a good idea at that. I think I'll go to Hogwarts to meet the boy first. He should know that he has friends in high places." Fudge answered.

* * *

The next morning Snape dismissed his first class of the day early and rushed to his private quarters. Clutching his arm he firecalled the headmaster. With a grimace on his face he announced "Albus, I've been called. I need you to find someone to take my class till I get back or cancel them. I have to go." Albus gave the younger man a concerned look before he dismissed him with a caution to please be careful.

Snape gathered up his death eater robes and mask and walked swiftly past the wards so that he could apperate out. Appearing in a secured room in Gringotts with a small pop the potions master made haste to Ravearks office where the others had already gathered.

After going over in detail what had been going on with Shadow for the past few weeks LeAnn had only a few questions. "Bill, can you modify the blood ward and remove the blocks and tracking spells that are on my son?"

Bill thought for a few seconds before he answered. "We think the key phrase to the blood ward is Understand Me. If we are correct then yes I can." He smiled. "That one's the major one. The rest are easy."

LeAnn nodded her head in agreement and turned to Raveark. "Is his staff here?"

Raveark motioned for Griphook who left the room for a few seconds. When he returned he had Shadows staff in his hands.

LeAnn sat back in the comfortable chair she had been given and sighed. "You all need to understand something about Shadow. He is not a normal 14 year old boy. He is an elemental Mage. He is slow to anger and will seldom act in his own defense but you don't harm his family. Well Dumbledore has done that by engineering the arrest of his father. Bill, I need you to modify the ward for him today. After that's done I need all of you to just stay out of his way." She looked at the shocked faces of the people around her and smiled. Her smile sent chills down even Snapes back it was so cold. "Severus, get Bill and I to Hogwarts as soon as the headmaster is out of the school."

"What are you planning to do after the ward, block and tracking spells are gone LeAnn?" Snape asked.

"I plan on giving him back his staff." Was her answer.

It was decided that when Dumbledore floo'd to Gringotts that the curse breaker and LeAnn would use Dumbledores office to floo into the school. Raveark would delay the return of the headmaster to the school to give Bill time to complete his work before he allowed Dumbledore to think he had convinced the goblin that the will was a fake.

_(Hogwarts)_

Snape returned to Hogwarts and went directly to the Headmaster with his (report) on the meeting he had just attended.

"I am sorry that I did not get the name of the official that delivered the copy of the will to Gringotts for you but his name was not mentioned." Snape said.

"No matter my boy. You said that according to the report delivered to Voldermort that the goblins are not convinced the will is a true copy? Well, that makes my job a little bit easier because I have the original here in my office. I can just take it to Gringotts myself today and put this issue to rest." Albus was now in a better mood than he had been in since he had received the copy of the will. "Well done my boy, well done."

With that Snape left his office to gather up Shadow for their afternoon work.

After Snape had Shadow in his quarters he was firecalled from the Headmasters office by LeAnn. "Are you ready for us?"

Snape grinned, "Come ahead."

Bill and LeAnn stepped out of Snapes fireplace and LeAnn turned to her son. Opening her arms she caught the boy as he launched himself at her. Bill and Snape looked away to allow the two as much privacy as they could as the two engaged in a tearful greeting.

"Mom, am I going home now?" Shadow brushed the tears from his cheeks as he hugged and kissed his mother.

LeAnn pulled back and brushed Shadows hair out of his face. "Soon I think. Bill is here to modify the blood ward on you to make it useless to Dumbass, and don't you tell Tracy I said that or I may get my mouth washed out with soap"

Shadow snickered before he turned to Bill. "What do you need me to do?"

"Just lie down on Severus bed and relax. If you can doze off that's even better. The calmer you are the easier this will be." Was the answer.

Shadow nodded and went to Snapes bed and lay down with his eyes closed as he practiced the relaxation techniques he had learned over the years. Bill started chanting over the boy's body and Shadow did manage to fall asleep for a short time as Bill worked.

Shadow woke to his mother's gentle nudges and with a grin he sat up. "Wow, I feel great." He grinned at Bill, "Did it work?"

Bill smiled and nodded. "It worked. I also removed the blocks on your magical core and I removed the tracking spells."

LeAnn stood up and walked over to the corner of the room and picked up Shadows staff and held it out to the boy. "Shadow, your staff." Shadow bounded over to his mother and took his staff with a huge grin on his face.

"Can we go home now Mom?" Shadow asked.

LeAnns face took on a grim look. "Before you say anything else I need you to shield. I have something to tell you." Shadow's smile vanished as his face became emotionless. A shimmer enveloped the boy as he stood there watching his mother. "Your father was arrested on trumped up charges. He is now in Azaskaban prison awaiting trial. Albus Dumbledore is responsible." At LeAnn's words the boy began to glow with power. The anger radiating off the boy was almost palatable.

With one sweep of his staff everything in the room vanished except the humans. Shadow said only two words. "He Dies"

LeAnn ordered the two shocked men to get out of the room now! All three quickly left and shut the door. LeAnn quickly cast a shield across the wall that joined the two rooms and then sat on the bed which was now in Snapes livingroom. As a matter of fact Snapes whole bedroom suit was crowded into his livingroom.

Bill looked around in wonder. "I've never seen someone move a whole room full of furnishings like that before. Why did he do it or was it you LeAnn?"

"Shadow did it. He's fighting for control right now and didn't want to damage any of Severus things in his anger." LeAnn explained.

The three felt a popping in their ears as if the air pressure had suddenly and rapidly changed and the shield LeAnn had put up fell. The door to the bedroom warped with a quick gong sound and then the door simply crumbled into sawdust. Shadow walked out of what was left of Severus bedroom and with a sheepish look at the potions master conjured a new door and with another sweep of his staff the bedroom furnishings returned to the bedroom.

Shadow walked over to his mom and hugged her. "Go home mom. Dad and I will be there soon."

With a quick nod she kissed her son and popped out.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 I Am So Screwed**

Severus turned to Bill, his face reflecting the amazement he felt. "How on earth did she do that? No one can apperate in or out of Hogwarts."

Shadow smirked, "She didn't apperate."

At the confounded looks on the two's faces Shadow said. "Remind me and I'll explain later. Now, where's Dumbledore." The voice he used when he asked that question was cold and emotionless

"He's at Gringotts right now Shadow. He should be back sometime this afternoon. So, what are you planning to do now?" Bill asked.

Shadow, without batting an eye said, "Free my father and kill that old bastard."

"As much as I agree that Dumbledore needs to be taken down I don't think your killing him is the correct way to do it. Many will see you as bad as if not worse than he is. He just has to large of a following to do something like that with out consequences." Snape explained.

"So what do I do? Allow him to get away with his crimes?" Shadow shook his head no. "I will not. I cannot let him get away with this. You know he needs to be stopped before he does more harm than he already has."

It was at that time that the floo came to life. Snape answered and found Raveark at the other end.

"Dumbledore is back at Hogwarts now. How are things going there?" Raveark asked them.

"Well, other than Shadow trying to turn himself into a homicidal maniac things are great." Bill quipped.

Ravearks face paled. "What do you mean by that?"

Snape reached out and slapped Bill on the back of the head. "Its just Weasley's idea of a poorly thought out joke Raveark. Shadow is naturally very upset about his fathers arrest but he isn't going to kill anyone without some careful thought first."

Raveark sighed in relief. "Fudge is coming to the school this evening about dinner time. He plans on bring his whole entourage with him as well as members of the press. According to Madam Bones he wants to get in some free press with the Boy-Who-Lived. Some goodwill stuff. If Mr. Shadow can contain his blood thirsty nature till then that might be the time to confront Dumbledore with his wrongdoings. With that many witness's it will be hard for him to sweep it all back under the proverbial rug again. I understand that Fudge always travels with several top ranking Aurors?"

"Of course he does. You never know when a death eater or a just plain disgusted with ineptitude citizen will jump out of the wood work and confront our esteemed Minister." Snape snickered at the mental picture that produced for him. "Of course some of his 'normal' entourage are death eaters but Fudge was convinced by their money that they were just a little bit weak willed and so were subject to impervious for years without going mad. Isn't it wonderful what money will do?"

"Shadow, just promise me that you won't do anything till the minister gets there. I'll be there also with a little surprise myself. Will you wait till then?" Raveark asked Shadow.

Shadow just nodded to the goblin.

"All right then. You need to get back to class young man." Snape said.

Shadow went to his afternoon classes and received a note at the end of his last class. The note instructed him to return to his room, bath and change into his good robes. He was apparently invited to have dinner in the great hall tonight with some special guests. The minister of magic and his personal assistant as well as a few members of the press. Perfect.

After Shadow had showered he changed into some plain black jeans and a black long sleeved buttoned down shirt. He clubbed his hair back with a black ribbon and put on some ankle high black boots. Grabbing his staff he left the room to go to the great hall. He hoped no one was really very hungry tonight because he was fairly sure that after he got there no one would be eating much.

Shadow made his way to the great hall and stopped in the middle of the room. With a quick sweeping motion of his staff and a mumbled word that no one heard he caused the four student tables to vanish. With another sweep and mumbled word all of the students were pushed against the walls. Shadow began to glow as he turned his eyes directly to the headmaster.

Albus wand in hand quickly stood up and began making his way around to the front of the staff table. His face was red with anger as he glared at Shadow. When he got close enough to almost touch the boy he hissed in a low voice, "Understand me, this behavior will not be tolerated. Understand me, give me that staff."

Expecting to be obeyed he was shocked when Shadow reached out and grabbed his wand and with a quick twist of his wrist broke it across his knee. "Unless you want to die now you had better get my father out of prison old man."

Several things happened after Shadows words.

A short man who was sitting at the staff table lurched to his feet. Eyes wide in surprise he crushed what looked like a lime green hat in his hands. "Holy shit Albus, what's going on here?"

The several people in uniforms standing behind the man drew their wands and pointed them at the two in the middle of the floor as they moved closer to the short man.

A toad like woman who had been sitting beside the man with the green hat gave a wide grin as she watched the confrontation between the old man and the young boy.

Another woman with an outrageous hairdo and clashing robes started digging in her humongous bag for something talking to herself the whole time.

Snape got up and moved toward the two opponents.

Professor Flitwick fell off his cushion and last but not least another man fairly nondescript got up and with a wide smile on his face began to make his way around the staff table also.

The tubule held for a few seconds before Dumbledore stumbled back away from the boy and said. "Harry, calm down. If you have some issues with me this is not the place to air them. If you will come to my office we can talk about it."

Shadow did not take his eyes off the old man but he did raise an air shield around the two of them before he shook his head no. "I will go nowhere with you old man. Do you think I'm that stupid to trust you again?"

By this time Snape was just outside of the perimeter of the air shield that Shadow had erected. He brought his hand up and gently pushed against the shield. Turning he shrugged his shoulders. "Some kind of a shield although I don't recognize it." He informed the rest of the room.

Several of the students took the opportunity to make a quick exit from the room and Minerva McGonagall seeing this decided that was not a bad idea. "Severus, help me get the other students out before they get hurt."

Severus cast a _sonorous _charm and instructed the rest of the students to return to their common rooms. The students filed out with many backward glances and several of the adults at the staff table made motions like they were going to leave also before the main door framed an assembly of about 8 goblins dressed in battle armor who made their way into the great hall. At this all of the adults froze except the woman who had been digging in her bag. She was talking softly and a quill was busy writing on a pad of paper on the table in front of her and the nondescript man who had been making his way slowly toward the two surrounded by the shield.

The man who had been approaching the shield stopped at Snapes side as the goblins made a semi-circle behind the boy. Snape glanced at the man standing beside him. "Mr. Jonathan Felis why are you here? Children's protective services were not called according to my information."

Felis smiled at the potions professor. "I was invited by the headmaster to meet his ward." According to the file I read about the boy he was severely traumatized and abused by his adopted father." Felis raised an eyebrow at Snape. "What do you think? Is my information wrong? The boy is acting like he has been traumatized although the question I must now ask is **who** did it?"

Felis grinned at Snapes gobsmacked expression before turning back to the two encased in the shield. "Shadow, stand down now." He ordered the youth.

Shadow glared at the man before looking back at Dumbledore. That was such a stupid demand that he didn't even feel it was necessary to answer.

Felis elbowed Snape in the ribs as his grin got wider. "You gotta love that boy don't you?" he said in an aside to Snape before he again ordered Shadow to stand down this time adding the totally incomprehensible phrase, "metamorphmagus, remember son?"

The change in the boy was instantaneous. His staff dropped along with the shield and he threw himself at the man. Tears ran from his eyes as the man pulled the boy in a close hug. "It will be ok son, I'm here." The man rubbed his hand up and down the boy's back, "Shhh, I'm here with you. It will be ok now."

Shadow only said one word as he closed his eyes and burled in closer in the embrace. "Dad."

Dumbledore, mouth hanging open watched in surprise as his charge was held and comforted by his old friend Jonathan Felis. What the hell was going on here? He stooped to grab the boy's staff but was stopped by several growls from the goblins standing behind the two hugging men. Raveark shook his head no. "I wouldn't touch it if I were you old man."

At the warning Dumbledore froze once again before standing up straight. "Why are you here Raveark?" he asked. "None of this concerns you."

Raveark flashed a feral grin at the man and said "Don't count on it."

The group in the center of the room had totally forgotten the others till the short man with the crushed green hat once again drew their attention by slamming his hands down on the staff table and demanding to know what was going on here.

Felis and Shadow turned to the staff and Shadow wordlessly summoned it back to his hand. The two then slowly started walking toward the table side by side. Those gathered at the table watched in stunned surprise as Felis morphed into a taller man with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. Chandos Kane dropped his hand on his son's shoulder as his gaze took in those at the staff table.

"What's going on here Fudge is kidnapping, illegal use of magic against a minor, theft, manipulation of a minor, false charges being levied against innocent people, false arrest, slander, falsifying documentations, endangering a minor, mind control of several people including said minor, fraud, forgery and if you give me a little bit more time I'm sure I can think of some more charges to add to that list." Chandos spat with a glare at those on the other side of the table. "I left this country because I did not like what passed for justice here. My son was brought here against his will so that he could learn first hand why I hate this country."

Albus, thinking fast tried to redeem the situation by ordering the aurors to arrest Chandos. "He is an escaped prisoner from justice."

Fudge held up his hand to stop any aurors that were inclined to move. "Hold." Looking at Chandos he said "I am assuming that you can supply proof of these charges you are accusing; I would guess the headmaster of?" At Chandos nod Fudge demanded that the room be cleared of the teachers unless they were a part of this investigation as well as the press and anyone else who didn't need to be there. As he said this last part his eyes darted toward the goblins.

Chandos smiled as everyone except Snape, the goblins, Dumbledore, Fudge, Umbridge, the aurors, McGonagall, himself and his son exited the room. As the woman with the bad hair passed him he leaned over and said, "Stick around till this is over Rita, I'll have a statement for you then."

After the room was cleared Chandos said, "We will supply pensive memories of what has been going on here. I will also testify under Veritaserum if you require it. There are several others that have information about what has been going on here including your own head of magical law enforcement, Madam Bones.

"Make a list of your witnesses and I will have them summoned here." Fudge said. "Albus I don't know yet what you are playing at but you seem to have gone to far this time." He shook his head and closed his eyes briefly. "Even you are not above the law Albus" was the softly spoken words.

Umbridge never lost her smile as she studied the boys scarred forhead. "Cornelius, I believe I have one more charge to list although I'm not sure who it should be leveled against. Remember when we were talking about Potters famous scar? Well this boy's scar is on the wrong side of his forehead. He is not Potter."

Albus whipped around and stared at the boy. Oh hell, the scar was on the wrong side. How had he forgotten that? He shifted his eyes to each one left in the room. This did not look good. Closing his eyes he tried to think of how he could do damage control here. Nothing came to mind. 'I am totally screwed' was the thought that went through his head. With that thought he reached out and grabbed Snape with one hand and reached into a pocket of his robe with the other. Pulling out a small silver medallion he quickly whispered "Portus" and with a soft pop and a look of surprise on Snapes face the two vanished.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21 Repercussions and Prophecies**

_(Hogwarts)_

Everyone stood with mouths open in shocked silence for a few seconds before pandemonium broke out.

Professor McGonagall gripped the table and rose to her feet and if anyone had been listening they would have heard her moan "Oh Albus, what have you done" before she made her way out of the hall gripping a pendent of some sort that was around her neck but the confusion in the room was such that only Chandos and his son noticed her departure.

Fudge was yelling instructions to the aurors that had accompanied him to dinner one second and the next turning to Umbridge and asking her what he should do about this mess. The aurors waited in confusion not knowing what to do because of the conflicting orders they were receiving.

Umbridge was trying to talk Fudge into going back to the ministry until they could figure out what had happened but her real purpose was to get Fudge someplace safe so she could go meet with her new friends to report on the day's remarkable events.

It was perhaps the goblins reaction that was the most startling aside from Dumbledores. They encircled the two Kane men facing outward as if they were protecting them from an outside hostile force. Raveark made his way to Chandos and told him. "We need to get your son someplace safe so we can talk. There is much you don't know Mr. Kane."

With a quick grin down at his son Chandos put two of his fingers in his mouth and blew a piercing whistle. The room instantly quieted as all eyes turned to him. "I will come to the ministry in the morning and go over what has been going on here Minister Fudge but for now I'm taking my son someplace safe. Is nine in the morning good for you?"

Fudge started sputtering, "Now see here Kane. I don't…" His words dwindled off as he watched in shock as the two humans and eight goblins turned and walked calmly out of the hall. Turning to Umbridge he asked, "Did you see that? He ignored me. Me! The Minister of Magic and he just ignored me." Turning to the aurors deployed behind him he at last gave a coherent order. "Take those two into custody and bring them to a holding cell in the justice department. Move!"

About half of the aurors ran out the double doors in pursuit of the two Kanes but by the time they made it outside all ten were gone without a trace.

Fudge finally allowed Umbridge to convince him to return to the Ministry for his own protection and the remaining aurors, Fudge and Umbridge followed out the doors only to find the first aurors that had gone to make the arrest wandering around looking for the Kanes. With a disgusted snort he ordered everyone to return to the ministry.

_(Gringotts later that same day) _

The eight goblins and two humans portakeyed into a secured room in Gringotts and were greeted by Bill Weasley and Amelia Bones.

Ms. Bones did a double take after seeing Chandos, "I thought you were in custody. How did you manage to escape from a high security isolation cell?"

Chandos smirked at the woman. "I didn't. If you go look you will find me there most likely with soiled robes from Dementor visits. Umm, you may want to do that pretty quickly though. I'm not sure how long I can stand being around the things. Oh yah, when you spring me go ahead and cancel the glammor I'm wearing because I don't think that Mr. Jonathan Felis likes being me to much. At least once the potion I forced down his throat wore off."

"Oh my, umm, yes. I'll be back as soon as I umm, excuse me please." And with that largely unenlightened statement Madam Bones rushed out of the room.

"Mr. Raveark, you said you had a surprise for us? It was my dad wasn't it?" Shadow smiled at the goblin till Raveark shook his head no. With a look of surprise he said, "No? Not my dad? What was it then?"

"Actually what I brought was the complete prophecy that Dumbledore had been known to refer to from time to time. It was copied incomplete and was corrupted by Dumbledore. This corrupted prophecy has been used as an excuse to try to control and manipulate you and others Mr. Potter. We of the Fay were entrusted with the journals of Rowena Ravenclaw after her death. Dumbledore I am shamed to admit managed to corrupt one of us 16 years ago and due to a rather large bribe was able to read a portion of her last journal before we found out and put a stop to it. This is the one that had the prophecy as well as many notes about you in it." Raveark briefly closed his eyes and when he opened them he looked steadily at the teen. There was regret in his eyes. "We failed our trust and because of that you and your family suffered. We of the Fay are trying to make things right now by offering our support to you and yours."

Chandos gave a troubled look to his son before he turned to Raveark. "You think my son was Harry Potter? Why?"

Shadow reached out and put his hand on his fathers arm. "Dad, Mr. Snape brewed a potion called stemma –atis. When I took it the family tree listed my biological parents as James Potter and Lilly Potter. I don't trust Dumbles as far as I could throw him but according to records I've seen I was placed with my aunt and uncle. Their last name was Dursley." Chandos drew his son into his embrace, "They were never my parents. They weren't even really family" He drew back enough to look into his fathers face and smiled. "You and mom are my parents"

Chandos smiled down at his son with pride in his eyes before looking back at Raveark. "Ok, my son does not lie so it must be true. What is this corrupted prophecy you were talking about and what's the real one."

Raveark picked up a piece of parchment from a file on his desk and cleared his throat before reading. "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies." He looked at the three humans in the room. "That is the corrupted prophecy." He reached for the slender book he had placed on his desk and carefully opened the age darkened pages till he found the spot he wanted. "This is the real prophecy.

Child of gold, precious beyond price

Ill used of those that should love him

He turns his back on family

The child of gold with the power to vanquish the Dark approaches

Born to those who defied evil, born as the seventh month dies

Scared by evil, equal of the dark at birth but he will grow into power the Dark knows not

Tempted by Gray the gold is tempered

With the love of those that should hate him he embraces with a shining love

Deal fairly with the gold that he might gain wisdom and strength

For his task is to defeat the Gray and the Black

Deal justly with the gold that he might learn to dispense justice

For only through the gold might the fay and mortal learn peace"

Raveark closed the book and handed it to Chandos. "Be gentle with it. It's very old"

Chandos took the book. "How do you know that this is about my son?"

Raveark tapped the book he had handed to Shadows father. "The only proof any of us need is on the last 10 pages of this book. He is the one."

Chandos laid the book down on the desk and opened it to the first of the last ten pages. On it was a drawing of a baby about two years old. It was Shadow. Chandos turned the pages and drawing after drawing of Shadow emerged. The pictures went from a two year old to a young man of about 20 years old. They were all of his son.

As the three humans studied the pictures and talked softly about what they had heard and seen Raveark ordered dinner for his small party. Two goblins brought in a table, four chairs and place settings. A large meal was set on the table and Raveark called to the others to come eat.

As they sat down to dinner Ms. Bones came back into the room with a very red face. Raveark clapped his hands and another setting was added to the table.

Chandos looked at her with an impish smile on his face. "Well, how was I doing?"

She tried to suppress the grin and looked down before it got out of control. After a few seconds she managed to say, "Well you were right about soiling your robes and you were right about Felis not wanting to be you anymore. One of these days you must explain to me how you managed to do that."

"Later" Chandos looked to Raveark, "O.K. now what do we do about Severus?"

Raveark grinned. "I would imagine the best course of action would be to wait for him to use the portakey he has to my office then listen to his report."

_(An undisclosed location)_

Dumbledore released Snape as the man stumbled.

"Are you mad Albus? What were you thinking of to do this" Snape demanded.

"I am sorry my boy, I had to get us out of there before they turned on us. We need to figure out a way to do damage control and get the boy back." Albus sat down on the couch in the room and wiped his face with the handkerchief he removed from his pocket. "I wanted to keep Harry away from Chandos. The boy doesn't understand that only I can protect him and train him for the task he has ahead of him."

Snape sat on an overstuffed chair. "What task is that?" he asked his one time mentor.

Albus looked surprised at the question. With a softly chiding voice he said, "Severus, you have heard the prophecy, you know what the boy has to do but to defeat Tom he needs to be trained up first. As I am the only wizard alive that has defeated an evil dark lord I am the only one competent to see to his training." He shook his head in sorrow. "I know Chandos loves the boy but without me teaching and guiding him the boy will surly die. He needs to be with me."

Albus got to his feet and went to a set of shelves in the room and picked up several sheets of parchment, a bottle of ink and a quill which he handed to the potion master. "Take notes for me if you don't mind." After handing the writing supplies to the other man Albus began to pace and talk. "First thing we need to do is regain control of the boy. After we do that we can modify his memory so that he believes his adopted father abused him. We can take that to the ministry and make a case for having the adoption set aside. I will apply for custody of the boy and adopt him myself. I obviously need to come up with a stronger ward to use on him or else isolate him from everyone till he has adapted to being under my control. Hmmm, perhaps I should just memory charm him into understanding that he has no choice but to turn to me." He glanced over to the younger man and was pleased to see him taking notes on what he was saying.

Severus glanced up at Albus, "The wards you used weren't strong enough? Which ones did you use?"

"A modified control ward. I don't know how the boy was able to break it but he did. Once we get him back I need to repower the memory charm I have on him. Its not working fast enough."

Severus raised his eyebrows at the headmaster. "What about some blocks on his memory?" he suggested.

"Perfect. That's what I should have done in the beginning. Hmmm, maybe I should just go in and obliviate any troublesome memories. The problem with that is you aren't always sure how much can be safely removed and still allow normal thinking. That's why I opted for the slower memory charm. It does not destroy the thought process."

Albus summoned an old house elf and ordered some tea and sandwiches for the two of them as they settled down to some serious planning.

_(The Ministry of Magic)_

Fudge could still not believe what had happened today at Hogwarts. That old man must be off his rocker to have tried to get away with kidnapping a boy to pass off as Harry Potter. Then to grab that death eater and port out. Unbelievable!

Umbridge was doing her best to calm her boss but he was having none of that. Pacing back and forth in his office he waved between outrage at the fraud that Albus had tried to commit and the outrage at the crimes he had tried to drag himself into.

Umbridge made soothing sounds between sentences like "A fake. Did you see that boy? Anyone would know he was a fake." And "Kidnapping! He tried to drag me into a kidnapping. It's an election year!" to "Manipulation of a minor. Merlin, I am going to kill that crazy old man."

After she got Fudge to sit down at his desk she started to write out a statement for the press. Reading what she had written so far she looked to the minister for approval. At his nod she continued writing. When she was finished she handed it to him for final approval and after glancing through it he signed his name with a flourish.

"See that the press gets this right away my dear."

"Of course Cornelius." With that Umbridge left the room and summoned Rita Skeeter into her office.

In a simpering little girl voice she told the reporter. "The minister has written out this statement which he wanted me to give to you. It should help the clear up the many questions I am sure you have about what happened today."

Rita took the parchment and read it. "I can print this with the story I file for tomorrow's paper?" At Umbridge's nod Rita started to grin. Another front page story here we come…

After she dismissed Ms. Skeeter Deloris made her way to the floo. She needed to make a report about this days happenings to her new friends. She was sure that they would be just as pleased with the way things had turned out as she was.

_(Miscellaneous information)_

Jonathan Felis was floo'ed back to the ministry where he was released. Still shaking he tried to stay downwind of everyone as he made his way to the atrium to catch a floo home. He needed a shower and a change of clothes badly. To hell with that, he needed at least an hours soak in his tub in some very hot water then about 18 hours of solid sleep. When he woke up would be time enough to deal with the fact that he had somehow found himself in Azaskaban with no memory of how he got there.

Minerva McGonagall could not believe what she had just witnessed. Albus was obviously cracking under the strain of his many responsibilities. She made her way to the infirmary to discuss the mental health of the headmaster with the school medi-witch. Maybe the two of them could get the support of the rest of the staff and force the old man to take a much needed vacation. They had better be able to or the ministry just might demand a long rest in Azaskaban for the headmaster.

Sirius Black was pacing back and forth in his living room. He had already sent for his best friend Remus. Remus would be able to figure out what was going on with his Godson. To have attacked the Headmaster like that. Merlin!


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22 Abeyance**

The paper was much thicker than it normally was. Kane was laughing as he read the stories in it. It seemed like the whole thing was about the fiasco with his son yesterday. He poured another cup of coffee as his son walked into the room.

Yawning, Shadow made his way to the breakfast table and grabbed a glass of juice. Downing it he yawned again before asking his father, "What's so funny dad?"

"You son are a celebrity" Chandos said as he passed over the paper with a snicker. "Of course they got most of the facts wrong but that's nothing new when it comes to the prophet."

Shadow sat down and started reading. After about 10 minutes he moaned and asked, "Can we sue them?"

_Corruption In High Places. By Rita Skeeter._

_Yesterday this reporter was invited by the Prime Minister to attend a dinner being held at Hogwarts, the prestigious private school that many of us attended in our youth. The occasion for the dinner? To meet the Hero of the wizarding world. The Boy Who Lived: Harry Potter._

_What we got instead of that honor was a young boy who had apparently been kidnapped from his loving family by none other than the headmaster of that school. During the presentation the boy rebelled against the illegal magical controls that the headmaster had placed…_

…_When a person is held hostage sometimes they begin to sympathize with the ones who hold them captive even to the point of beginning to agree that they deserve the treatment that they receive. See accompanying story page 4 Life as a Captive by Jarid Tallive_

… _the Kane's are being held in a secure location and will be subpoenaed as witness for the prosecution. See accompanying story page 6 _

"Has Mr. Snape come back yet dad?" Shadow asked.

Chandos smiled and ruffled his son's hair. "He wouldn't come to these rooms if he did you know. Most likely he would go back to Hogwarts first before he came here." After grabbing another piece of toast and taking a big bite Chandos cleared his throat before finishing, "Don't worry, we'll see him soon enough."

"You stayed up half the night reading that book. What did it say and what did that prophecy mean?" Shadow asked his father.

"I don't understand all of it son. I do understand this part though. Everyone is supposed to leave you alone till you grow up which you aren't yet. Albus jumped the gun when he tried to interfere with you and for that he will pay. That's something that is clearly spelled out in the diary."

Chandos went to the bathroom and washed his hands before he placed the book down on the hastily cleared table. Opening it to a marked spot he pointed out the correct passages to his son. _'If the gray **or** black try to rush a confrontation before the gold is grown then the results will not be as expected because the gold has not grown hard enough to effect a permanent solution to the gray or black the two will find themselves held in abeyance till the gold has grown into his powers.'_

Shadow opened and closed his mouth after reading the passage. "huuu, that makes no sense. How do I put the gray and black in abeyance till I've grown up?"

Chandos grinned. "It doesn't say you will put anyone in abeyance. It says they will find themselves held in abeyance." Stretching Chandos smiled again at his son. "Want to come with me? I promised Fudge I would go to see him this morning at 9:00."

"What happens if he tries to arrest you again" Shadow asked.

"Oh, I wouldn't put it past him to **try **but I haven't broken any laws…weeell, let me rephrase that. I haven't broken many laws and the ones I have he doesn't know about so if he does try then he's going to find out what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a false arrest charge. It's an election year here in Jolly Ol' England and Fudge is nothing if not in love with his position as Minister of Magic. He won't want any bad press. Cides, he already gave a statement to the press saying that the two of us are in a safe location pending our giving testimony." Chandos waved his hand around indicating the room at large. "You can't get much safer than guest quarters at Gringotts under the protection of goblins."

Shadow grinned and said. "Let me get dressed. I'll only be a few minutes." He ran out of the room and back into the bedroom the two had shared last night after the excitement had died down.

After Shadow rejoined his father the two made their way to Raveark's office. Before flooing out a small contingent of goblins were assigned by Raveark to guard the two as they completed their business.

Reaching the Ministry the two were asked to check their wands by a bored security guard who didn't even look up from the copy of the prophet he was reading before they were allowed to proceed any farther.

"If we had wands we would check them but since we don't I guess we won't." Chandos explained to the security guard.

The man gaped at the two before he stammered out. "Staffs, I need to check your staffs."

Chandos smiled kindly at the man before he said softly, "No."

The man opened and closed his mouth before he said with a look of astonishment on his face. "No? What do you mean no? You can't go any further unless I check your staff sir."

"Fine" Chandos said. The guard smiled at having won that argument and held out his hand for the staff. Chandos quickly debased him of that notion. "Please tell the Minister that Chandos Kane was here for his appointment but that you would not let us proceed without taking the staff that I am using to protect my son and that I refused to hand it over. Tell him I will send him a letter instead." He smiled and said "Have a nice day."

The small group turned and floo'd back out as the guard stared in shock.

When the group once again stepped out of the floo in Ravearks office they found that professor Snape had showed up in their brief absence. He was seated at the table holding a cup of tea, talking to the director, Bill Weasley and surprise surprise Remus Lupen. Also present was Minerva McGonagall and Sirius Black.

Chandos scowled at the werewolf and Black. Great, two of his least favorite people.

Shadow smiled at Raveark, Snape and Weasley before turning to the other three who were there. "Mr. Lupen, Mr. Black and Mrs. McGonagall. Good morning to all of you." He directed his attention back to the potions master and said, "I was worried about you sir. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I would have been back here last night but I was called to a meeting of Voldermorts inner circle. It appears that he has a new follower who brought him a report of what happened last evening at Hogwarts. He was…..pleased with the report he was given." Snape smiled, "He was even more pleased after I gave him my report."

Black stood up and faced Chandos, "I know we have some history behind us Chandos but you are the father to my godson. I want to be a part of his life now that he has been found. Can't we put our past behind us for the boy's sake?"

Chandos sighed, "If my son wants a relationship with you I will not stop him. I will even go so far as to try to get along with you provided you can leave the childish and immature teasing at home. I will not have my family ridiculed or belittled by you or by Remus. Understand?"

Black smiled. "Deal" He looked over at Bill before turning back to Chandos, "I had several compulsion spells placed on me that Bill removed. He said they were all tagged with the headmasters magical signature. Some of them were over 18 years old. Its kind of humbling to find out that a large part of my free will had been circumvented like that without my knowledge."

Minerva McGonagall also stood and approached Shadow. "Severus explained what had been done to you child. I am truly sorry. Had I known I would have helped you. Can you forgive me?"

"Yes, it wasn't your fault." Shadow glanced at Black who was looking at the floor in shame. "It wasn't any of your faults."

Remus sighed in relief that that was over. "Raveark told us about the prophecy that the goblins have been guarding. He also explained about the false prophecy that Albus has been using. I want Voldermort defeated but I don't want someone just as crazy to take his place and that seems to be what Albus is trying to do. Set himself up as a world power with a better smell than the dark lord."

Raveark cleared his throat. "Perhaps we can all be seated so that we can hear Severus's report?"

The group sat down and looked toward Snape waiting for him to speak. Blowing out a gust of air the man said. "Well, before I start you will all have to forgive my language. I am repeating what I was told word for word." Severus looked down at the parchment sitting on the table in front of him and began to read. "First thing we need to do is regain control of the boy. After we do that we can modify his memory so that he believes his adopted father abused him. We can take that to the ministry and make a case for having the adoption set aside. I will apply for custody of the boy and adopt him myself. I obviously need to come up with a stronger ward to use on him or else isolate him from everyone till he has adapted to being under my control. Hmmm, perhaps I should just memory charm him into understanding that he has no choice but to turn to me" Snape glanced around the table to judge the reactions of the others. He was not disappointed in the looks of outrage he saw.

"He also said, 'When I get my hands on that boy I will tan his bare ass for breaking my wand. I've had that wand for over 75 years.'" The adults around the table snickered as the boy's cheeks turned red with embarrassment at the mental picture that statement created.

Snape stopped grinning as he said. "I believe that Dumbledore started out with the best of motives but somehow, someplace lost track of what was right and what was wrong. Understand, I don't excuse his behavior and I believe that he represents an ongoing danger to Shadow unless we find a way to stop him but because of the debt the wizarding world owes him I would rather not see him go to prison unless no other way to control him can be found. I owe him a personal debt as well."

Chandos reached over and covered his friends hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I won't allow my son to be in danger if I can prevent it but to be honest, if Rowena Ravenclaw's diary is to be believed then we don't have to do much of anything. According to her, he will somehow be put into abeyance till Shadow is grown." Chandos shrugged, "I don't understand exactly what she meant by that but that's what her diary said anyhow."

Shadow shook his head no. "What she said was that if either of them did something then they would both be held in abeyance till I was grown up. I don't know what she was talking about either."

_(The Ministry of Magic)_

"How could you have let then leave you imbecile?" Fudge raged at the hapless guard. "Where did they go?"

"Sir, I'm sorry but I don't know. They didn't tell me where they were going." The guard looked panicked as he took in the red face of the minister. "Goblins" he practically yelled. "They were accompanied by goblins. The goblins would know where they were."

Fudge turned to his aide and demanded that the two be found before storming off back to his office.

His aide Percy Weasley went back to his office and penned a note which he took to the owlry to post. It was addressed to Bill Weasley, Gringotts bank.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23 Kidnapped Again**

_(Riddle Manor that same day early afternoon) _

Voldermort was in a wonderful mood today. According to his newest follower the imposter that Dumbledore was trying to pass off as the bloody boy who lived had confronted the old man in front of the press, the ministry, a contingent of goblins, the teachers of Hogwarts as well as the student body with his duplicity and lies. The boy had also somehow got a hold of the old man's wand and broke it in half. Voldermort snickered. He really needed to get a hold of a pensive so that he could have Umbridge and Snape show him their memories of the events. He could almost imagine the old man's face when his wand snapped. To make matters even better the old fool had kidnapped Snape with the mistaken belief that he was protecting him. Delicious.

About the only sour note to the whole fiasco was the presence of the goblins at the dinner. Umbridge said that they appeared to be trying to protect the boy. 'I wonder if this means that the goblin nation is going to break off relations with the ministry. Perhaps it just means that the goblins have enough sense to hate that meddlesome bastard almost as much as I do.' Making a quick decision Voldermort left the audience chamber and swiftly made his way to the room that he was using to store his pet till he had another use for him. Throwing the door open he was satisfied with the bang it made as it hit the wall. Without breaking his stride he approached the cot that his pet sat on

"Crucio" He watched his pet writhe and contort his body into unusual positions on the cot for a few seconds before he lifted the curse. Malfoy lay on the cot panting and shaking from the unexpected curse that had struck his body. After he regained enough control over his body he slid to the floor and knelt with his forehead pressed against the cold flagstones. Voldermort sat on the cot and reached down to play with his pet's hair.

"Have you noticed my pet? You have not been punished for four days now" He yanked on the hair and raised the man's head till he was looking in his face. "Tell me, what happened to your son my pet?"

Malfoy began to shake again as he debated with himself weather to lie or tell his master the truth. Better tell the truth. Although it would most likely get him punished it was less apt to get him dead. "I…he was weak master. He, he wouldn't study when I tried to teach him. He never…he would fight me about learning what he, what you would have wanted him to know. I had to punish him…..because he wouldn't,-he refused to use the crucio on a lowly house elf. I had him beat- beaten but it was worse than I thought. The boy was…wasn't doing very well. Chandos Kane came for him and promised that if I didn't sign over my … control of the boy to, to him he would press charges agai---against me with ch-childrens services. I signed the papers and Kane took him away. That was about two years ago. We, my wife and, and I held a funeral for h-him and we put it out that the boy had died fa-falling down the stairs."

"Kane! He's the father of the fake Harry Potter. From all accounts a very powerful young wizard in his own right. Hmmm, I wonder, could there be two such powerful boys that are the same age that was adopted by Kane?" Voldermort smiled and Malfoy shivered in fear. "It's almost got to be…" Voldermorts voice dropped lower as he talked to himself. "A glamour to change his features so no one would recognize the boy…magical or even muggle methods to change the hair color. Yes, I believe that it must be." A shaking started in the man and soon his laughter burst out. "Clever Kane, clever Dumbledore. To find an elemental to use against me."

Voldermort stood with his hand still twisted in his pet's hair. He walked swiftly to the door and Malfor scrambled to keep up. The two made their way through the manor, one striding with an upright carriage and the other hunched over as his hair was pulled. The two entered the private bedroom of Voldermort before the man released his pet's hair. Swiftly kneeling before a large trunk Voldermort began searching for something. When he found what he was looking for he grasped it in his hand and raised it above his head. Dangling from a thick tarnished chain was a medal that the ministry gave out as awards for Services Rendered Above the Call of Duty. "Perfect" he said as he studied the medal. Turning to his pet he smiled and said, "I have found your son my pet and soon I will claim him. Fetch Umbridge for me."

Malfoy dropped to his knees before his master and kissed his robes before he said, "As you wish." With that he climbed to his feet and ran out of the manor to the apperation point. With a pop he was gone.

When Malfoy reported back to his master several hours later he had Umbridge with him. She knelt down and bowed her head. "How may I serve Master?" She asked.

Voldermort handed her the newly shined medal and instructed her to get another one. "I want both Kanes to be awarded these medals for their testimony against Dumbledore. Just make sure the boy gets this one."

With her head still bowed she reached out her hand for the medal. Voldermort placed it in her hands then stroked her face raising her head so that she could look at him. "Your services have pleased me my dear and because they have tomorrow I will place my pet at your disposal. You may use him as you see fit. I understand from his wife that he is quite skilled in the bedroom."

Umbridge licked her lips and darted a glance over at the very pale and shaking Malfoy. "Any" she cleared her throat and pulled her eyes back to her master, "Anything Master?"

Voldermort smiled, "Whatever your pleasure or perversion is he will fill it for you. Would you like him waiting naked for you with a lotion to massage your body? Chained to a bed spread out like a tasty treat? Kneeling on the floor with his back exposed and a whip at his feet?" Her mouth was hanging open as she listened to her master describe what she could have for her reward. "Choose how you want him waiting my dear so that he will be ready for you" Voldermorts voice had taken on a soft and sexy sound as he listed what she could do to his pet.

She swallowed with a gulping sound. "Ch-ch-chained to the bed naked, spread out waiting for me." Malfoy made a soft moaning noise as he knelt next to her.

Voldermort released her face and dismissed her with a caution to return the following day after her sift at work was finished. "You will have him till you must leave again. Now go."

Voldermort waited for the woman to leave before he turned to the man on the floor. "When your son gets here you will stay away from him unless I order otherwise. If you cause him anymore harm I will turn you over to all of my death eaters to use as a sex toy. Do you understand me?"

With tears in his eyes the blond whispered "I understand master."

_(An undisclosed location in Scotland Same Day)_

Where was that blasted man! He was only to be gone long enough to find out the location of the boy. That was almost 18 hours ago. Dumbledore tossed the wand he held across the floor in his anger. Stupid wand. It wasn't a good match so it acted finicky with his magic. Some of his spells were over powered and some were weak.

"When I get that boy back I'm going to do more than beat his ass for him. I'm going to lock him in his room for a month on bread and water after I beat his ass and after his month is up I just might beat his ass again."

With a huffing sound he picked up the blasted wand again and went back to work on the wards that surrounded the house. He had to get them finished because an owl had found him this morning with a letter from the justice department demanding that he present himself for a trial of inquiry in the morning. He was to be formally charged. He ground his teeth together in frustration. Him! Albus Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, first class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Worlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards, famous for the single handed Defeat of Grindelwald to be charged like a common criminal. Well, Fudge might play games like that now but just wait till Voldermort started killing people and his popularity in the polls took a nose dive. Then they would all come crawling back to him on their knees, begging for his help and guidance. Just wait….

Just…wait a second…Albus scrambled over to the trash bin and started digging in it till he found the discarded copy of the prophet from this morning. Where was it, here… here was the article. He scanned the article till he got to the part that interested him.

_Chandos Kane and his minor son will be giving testimony in the morning of October 15 at the Ministry of Magic Courtroom 5 before a full counsel…_

Albus smiled as he began to make plans now that he knew where the boy would be in the morning…..

_(Ravearks Home Same Day Dinner Time)_

Raveark was happy to set the table for his dinner guests. It was the original three plus the two Kanes and the three new members from this morning as well as Griphook and another goblin who had been put in charge of security for the Kanes when they were not at the bank. With so many guests his wife had outdone herself in the selection of foods she was offering. Four meat dishes, six vegetable dishes, three pasta dishes and twelve desserts. At the knock on the door the goblin put the plates he had been about to set around the table down so he could greet his guests. Opening the door he was met with the Kanes and Severus Snape. Ducking their heads the three came into the room. When Raveark started talking to the adults Shadow followed his nose to the kitchen.

Inhaling the appealing aromas that graced his nose he looked around with curiosity. He had never been in a goblin house before. Well of course he hadn't. Before he was kidnapped he had never even seen a goblin before. Looking over at the short goblin woman he smiled and offered to help. "I do at home sometimes and the smells coming from here made me a little bit homesick, I hope I'm not intruding."

The woman smiled at the boy, "No, not at all. My name is Miglina wife to Raveark. And you are?" she said as she handed the boy a full platter of sliced meats.

"Shadow Walker but friends and family call me Shadow" he said as he took the platter from her.

"Well Mr. Shadow Walker, if you would be good enough to put that on the table for me I would be grateful."

Shadow grinned at her and walked into the dining room with the meat. Placing the full platter on the table he picked up the stack of plates and set one at each chair. Finished with that small chore he went back to the kitchen to help carry the rest of the food out.

"Miglina wife to Raveark, what goes next" he said

She giggled at the silly boy before correcting him, "Just Miglina" and handed him a bowl full of vegetables to carry out.

"Shadow shook his head no, "If you are going to call me Mr. Shadow Walker then I can do no less than to call you Miglina wife to Raveark." With a cheeky grin he carried the bowl out and put it on the table beside the platter of meat.

On his third trip the woman handed him a bowl of pasta. "What do you wish me to call you then?"

Before he grabbed the bowl he bowed low to the ground at the woman. Grabbing the bowl he answered. "Shadow, just Shadow"

Between the two of them they had the food loaded on the table in fairly short order. Shadow didn't notice the other adults had arrived or that everyone was watching him interact with Ravearks wife

Raveark nudged Chandos in the ribs, "He does that well doesn't he."

Chandos just shrugged, "He likes people. What can I say?"

The company was good, the dinner was excellent and the desserts were stupendous. Everyone ate too much so when they got up from the table there was some groans of contentment.

Shadow started to grab some plates to help clear the table after the feast but Miglina shook her head no. "Go with the others child; they need to make plans for your security when you and your father go to the trial tomorrow."

The group gathered in the living room of the goblin and they all went over the security arrangements that had been decided upon earlier in the day.

Shadows eyes took on a glazed look as his father went into lecture mode. "Remember Shadow, you stay beside me till you are called to the stand. When that happens just answer the questions they ask truthfully but don't volunteer any information. If asked if you are Harry Potter try to sidestep it without actually telling a lie The goblins are not allowed inside the courtroom but they will be waiting for us in the atrium. Black, Lupen, Weasley, Snape and McGonagall will flank you at all times once we are separated from our guard. I can't stress this enough…**Stay Close to us**"

After the talk was over the guests departed with the Kane's being escorted back to the Gringotts guest rooms by the goblins. Father and son chatted for a short time about how Fudge had sent the howler after his aide found out they were staying in Gringotts itself for safety sake but soon Shadows yawns convinced him that it was time to go to bed. They had a busy morning ahead of them.

In the morning the two Kane's showered and dressed then met in the dining area for breakfast. Shadow practiced the art of patience as Chandos practiced the art of lecture as the two ate. Shadow had nodded so often at his father that he almost felt like a bobble headed doll that was stuck on a recording of 'Yes sir, No sir.'

When it was time the duel collected their escort and floo'd to the ministry of magic's atrium where the goblin contingent stood aside and the human counterparts took over. The two were enclosed in a net of protection as they were escorted into the courtroom. Not really expecting to find him there Shadow still looked around for the headmaster.

The court clerk stood and asked for the accused to stand. A moment of silence swept the court as everyone looked around for the old man. When it became obvious that he was not there Fudge told the clerk to add the charge of "Failure to Appear" to the list. The clerk then read the list of charges that were being levied against the old headmaster. These charges started with the least serious Failure to Appear and went on to the ones of kidnapping and performing blood magic against an unwilling victim.

Shadow was called to the stand first and when asked to repeat his name he stated loud and clear that his adoption papers listed his name as Henry Kane. He sat in the witness chair and answered question after question about his kidnapping, the spells that had been used on him, the lies he had been told about his family and about himself. He neatly sidestepped the question of whether he was indeed Harry Potter by saying that before he had been kidnapped he had never even heard the name. He told them about waking up and being shown the family tree by Dumbledore then being told that as he slept he had been fed the stemma –atis potion. He shrugged his shoulders. "I can't say for sure that I took it or not. I don't know sir."

The barrister who had been assigned to represent Dumbledore stepped forward till he was crowding into the boy's private space. "Is it not true that you have a scar above your eyebrow in the shape of a lightning bolt?"

Shadow reached up and pushed the hair back off his forehead. The scar stood out like a beacon drawing the eyes of the whole court. After everyone was looking at him saw the scar the whispers began. Shadow heard several people make comments like "He has the scar. Dumbledore could be right about the boy" before he moved his hand and allowed his hair to once again cover the scar. He settled back into the chair and before he could be asked another question he popped out with, "It's on the wrong side. The boy who lived has a scar above his right eyebrow. Mine wasn't there before I was kidnapped and when it showed up it was on the wrong side of my face." The frantic talking increased sharply in volume after he said that.

After Shadow was dismissed he went back to his seat and waited till the trial was over so that they could leave. Although tired he felt justified as all of the charges levied against the old man with the exception of the kidnapping of Severus Snape had stuck. Just let the old fool try and wiggle out of this one when he was found…

When the small group reached the atrium they found a crowd of reporters waiting for them. There was a small stage set up and the Kanes were accosted by Deloris Umbridge. In a simpering little girl voice that drew shivers down Shadows spine she explained that the two were being presented with medals by the Minister Himself.

Shadow leaned over and whined in his fathers ear, "Daaaddd, please can we leave? I don't want some dumb medal."

Chandos sighed. "Lets just get this thing over with son. We promised to cooperate with the ministry and if that means getting a medal then we get a medal. If you don't want to keep it then just ditch it when we get back to Gringotts." He whispered back to his son.

The two made their way up on the stage where the minister gave a short speech about the public being grateful for the testimony supplied by the two 'in this difficult situation' before he was handed the first medal. Chando stood straight and tall as the shorter man briefly struggled to get the medal around his neck. When he was finished with the father he was handed the other medal which he slipped around the boy's neck. The two thanked the minister for his kindness and for the honor he had done them. As they passed in front of the reporters a young woman quickly reached out and grabbed the boy. Before anyone could react the portkey was activated and the two vanished…

Chandos stood there in shock for all of two seconds before he threw his head back and screamed, "Fuck!" Looking around wildly he yelled, "Where's his security?"

The human and gobbling guards rushed forward and began the arduous task of trying to trace the portkey signature so that they could follow.

When they managed to trace the location of the portkey the group as a whole apperated. Expecting to find the boy they were upset to instead find his staff and another trace of another portkey…

* * *

Shadow stumbled as he landed in the grass outside of the wards of a run down manor house. Before he could catch his balance he was hit with a stunner and everything went black.

Albus was chuckling when he canceled the glamour that had disguised his form from the ministry. Crouching down over the boy he took the staff and tossed it aside before reaching down and patting the boy's cheek with glee. As if the boy could hear him he talked. "Remember son, you brought this beating on yourself. After this you will learn to think twice before crossing me." He threw a feather light charm on the boy then reached under his knees and neck and lifted the boy up against his chest. He was still laughing when the second portkey activated and transported the two of them someplace that neither of them wanted to be.

_(Riddle Manor)_

Shadow felt the fog lifting from his head and a pain centered in his lower back. He knew that feeling. Stunner and a fairly powerful one at that. He moaned softly before he opened his eyes. The ceiling didn't look familiar to him at all. Twisting his head to the left he could see Dumbledore standing there facing something or someone in front of him. He had a wand in one hand and his other was extended away from his body as if he were ready to throw something. He was standing stiff and still. Shadow turned his head to the right and saw three people in black robes with silver white masks on their faces kneeling. Not good. No one stopped the boy as he twisted to his side and made it to his knees, with a little bit more effort he made it to his feet where he swayed as if drunk. When he caught his balance he gave the room a more careful look. Dumbledore was facing another wizard who also had a wand drawn and no one was moving at all.

Shadow felt a sharp pain pierce the center of his forehead and then he heard a gentle female voice talking to him inside of his head. '_Child of Gold you are not yet grown enough into your powers to face either the Gray or Black so the abeyance will begin and will continue for the next six years. Leave here after you release those who will not be held.' _

Shadow bowed in acknowledgement of the voice. His staff appeared at his feet and he grabbed it before turning to the three people who were just starting to move. They acted confused as he ordered them to find everyone here and to get them out **NOW** Without questioning his orders the three ran off in different directions. Shadow walked outside and moved beyond the wards that surrounded the manor house and waited. It took about 15 minutes before he was joined by twelve others. All except one was dressed in a black robe. The last one who had stumbled out was a man with white blond hair. He was naked and trembling with cold. His wrists and ankles were chaffed and cut. He had tears falling from his eyes.

One of the ones dressed in black took off her robe and wrapped it around the naked man. She then came to stand in front of him and with a stiff bow she said "Thank you. My husband and I owe you for what you have done here. How can we repay you?"

Before Shadow could reply a golden dome of pure energy grew up around the house. Those closest to the dome were knocked off their feet by the power it contained. "Wow" Shadow exclaimed before he turned back to the blond woman. He wagged his eyebrows at her and smiled. "Can you give me a lift to Gringotts?"


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24 Back to Obscurity**

Before Mrs. Malfoy could supply Shadow with transportation to Gringotts Chandos Kane and party apperated in.

Chandos looked around wildly and catching sight of his son grabbed him in a tight hug. Pulling back but keeping a hold of the boy he shook him by the shoulders and said, "Don't you ever do something like that again or you're grounded till your 20! Do you hear me?"

* * *

After the abeyance was put into effect, a direct reaction to the interference of the dark and the gray father and son slipped back into the obscurity that the family had worked so hard on.

The education of Shadow and his brothers and sisters continued with a few changes. These changes being the inclusion of several new teachers for the children. Severus Snape, Bill Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Remus Lupen all quietly relocated to Colorado and with the exception of Bill Weasley quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to the full time training of these powerful elemental teens. Bill Weasley was transferred and given this duty by his employers.

In an unprecedented show of support the goblin nation underwrote the expenses incurred during the move by the four and even went so far as to supply them with a salary for their teaching these children.

About a week after the group made their way home the goblins sent a team of Ward Setters in to strengthen and reinforce the wards around the compound. Included were wards powered by goblin and elven magic to make the place truly unapproachable, untraceable and unreachable without express permission from one of the adults living there.

A promise was made to the Kanes to supply when the children were ready a battle master from the goblins and a battle mage from the elven nation to help complete the children's training.

Remus moved around a lot gathering information on various laws that the human and fey lived by. He learned about the ways that nonhumans dealt with justice, how they lived what they wanted. He also learned about the inequalities practiced by humans against the nonhuman population. The classes he held were of course centered around the laws and traditions that others lived by.

* * *

The ministry tried to sweep the whole sorted mess under the preverbal carpet but all they really managed to do by ignoring it was to cause rumor to run ramped. Albus Dumbledore was lauded as a hero who had sacrificed his life and freedom to 'cage' the dark lord in his manor house in Little Hangleton.

After the unspeakables finished investigating the site and declaring it safe it became a tourist attraction. Witches and Wizards would come from all over the world to see the home of the most powerful dark wizard ever and to watch him live his life in his cage along with the hero. The Great Albus Dumbledore.

_(A Typical Day in Little Hangleton)_

The aurar who had been assigned to guard duty that day looked around in wonder. He had not pulled this duty status before and had quite frankly had a lot of apprehension before he had portkeyed in. He checked in with his superior and was told to just keep moving around the house and grounds with his eyes peeled for anything unusual.

When he questioned Tonks as to what could be considered unusual she told him to watch for death eaters or even misguided but under normal circumstances what would be lawful citizens acting in what would be classified as an unlawful manor. He had also been told to respect the privacy of the occupants of the house if they were engaged in anything personal but under no circumstance try to touch, talk or otherwise contact them.

With those instructions he began his rounds. A lot of work had been done to the grounds of the house with new gardens being put in and gathering places made with benches, statues and in one case a fountain. The flower beds were mulched and the paths that ran around the beautiful landscaped area was both restful and well thought out.

He meandered down to the family cemetery taking in the restored headstones and the well cared for graves. Side stepping the group of tourists busy taking pictures of the weathered marble markers he stood back and thought that this would be a good resting place for when he died if he had been a member of that family. The place just oozed peace and tranquility.

He made his way back up to the freshly painted manor house and walked around to the back before he decided to go inside of the house.

The first room he entered was the kitchen which was staffed by three house elves preparing an appetizing lunch. He closed his eyes and drew the wonderful smell of freshly baked ginger cake into his lungs as his mouth started to water with anticipation of the noon meal. One of the elves, catching sight of him cut a small piece of the freshly baked cake and slipped it onto a paper napkin before dusting the top of it with powdered sugar. With a bow he presented it to the auror then went back to his work.

With a smile the young man took a large bite of the cake burning his mouth slightly. Heaven. He made his way into the dining room and looked over the large set table waiting as if in anticipation for hungry diners to seat themselves. The heavy drapes were pulled back from the crystal clean windows letting in natural light that highlighted the place settings on the table.

With a totally relaxed air about him he entered the library. This was where he first caught sight of one of the two occupants of the house. The old man was sitting in a chintz armchair reading a book. Occasionally he would dip his fingers into the crystal bowl full of candy set on the small table beside him, taking a piece he would slowly eat it then read a few more pages before repeating the process. The auror was fascinated by the golden glow that encased everything around the old man in a four foot radius. His hand almost itched to reach out and test the shield but he knew that such an action would come under the heading of 'trying to contact' and quiet honestly he didn't fancy having to pay a hefty fine not to mention the black mark that would be entered onto his service record for such an action so he just stood there and watched for a short time before leaving the old man to his reading and candy.

He continued to explore the rest of the ground floor without seeing the other occupant of the house till the bell announced that lunch was served. Once he was back in the dining room Captain Tonks told him that the aurors were to spread themselves down along the table, mixing themselves in amongst the paying tourist. Seating himself close to the small round table that would only seat two people he watched as others filed in and took the chairs that they were directed to. When all were seated the food appeared on the table. He noticed with some surprise the two prepared place setting that appeared at the small round table complete with food and filled glasses. He was even more surprised at the golden shield that sprang up around the small table.

Almost everyone watched in awe as the old man who had been reading came into the room and made his way to that table. Before he could seat himself the other man came into the room and pushed past him with an impatient shove. Reaching the table first the younger, black haired man yanked his chair out and sat down. Pulling his plate closer he started to shovel the food into his mouth. The older man reached the table and sat down across from him. He started to eat at a much more dignified pace before he noticed the fresh peas on his plate. Picking up his spoon he scooped up some peas and using the spoon he flicked them at the younger man.

The peas made contact and the younger man jumped to his feet and started yelling at the older man, shaking his finger in his agitation. All of the paying tourists stopped eating to watch the interchange between the two men wishing they could hear what was obviously a very good rant directed at the older man but alas, sight but not sound or touch was granted to those who watched.

The unspeakables who had investigated this site after what had been done was done speculated as to weather the two men were even aware of others as they lived their lives in the house. Everyone knew that the were aware of the changes that had taken place and things like a bowl of candy could be left out and when one of the men moved close enough they could move the bowl, eat the candy or even break the bowl if they wanted to. That was established after the shields went up but because neither had ever given any indication of being able to see the investigators the current consensus was that they could not see anyone else but themselves.

Further proof to this was the many things the two had done that would have caused a lot of embarrassment to the two if they knew they were being observed by others. There had been picked noses and buggers eaten by one of the men. There had been cases of scratched butts and balls, once dancing and singing in the great room in an impromptu show put on by one. Sometimes the two would fight each other and screaming matches were an almost everyday occurrence

After the remarkable lunch the young auror finished his tour of the house then went back outside for the rest of his shift. When it was time for him to leave he picked up one of the pamphlets about the house, grounds and occupants and took it with him to show his new wife…

He portkeyed home, kissed and hugged his love and soothed the worries she had about his new guard assignment. Handing her the pamphlet he told her she should make time to come see the house. She sat down on the couch next to her husband and opening the pamphlet titled **The** **Abeyance and Magical Warding and Holding of Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldermort **she started to read.


End file.
